Torn between two lovers
by guavaberry
Summary: Stephanie has been off and on with Morelli for years but now he is ready to change that, but is she ready to make those kind of changes in her life? EDIT was just correcting name errors
1. Chapter 1

I walked into my apartment, making sure to lock all 3 locks behind me, and went straight to the shower. Behind me, I left a trail of chicken feathers, egg, and dust. The skip I had been chasing had a backyard chicken coop and decided to hide inside. I chased him in and managed to stun gun him and he fell face first into the morning collection of eggs, breaking most of them, and spraying them all over both of us. Just another day at the office for me. I'm Stephanie Plum and I'm a bounty hunter for my cousin Vinnie. He's a bail bondsman and when people don't show up for court, it's my job to chase them down and bring them back into the system. I'm not always the smoothest at it and my captures can get messy sometimes, but I can make my own hours, wear what I want, and I feel like I do some good in the world.

While I was in the shower I heard my text message alert go off on my phone. Once I had removed most of the feathers and egg from my hair, I rinsed off and checked my phone. It was from my on-again off-again boyfriend, Joe Morelli. We were currently in an "on" phase. We occasionally talk about getting married but he hates my job and I'm not quite ready to settle into the housewife kind of life. Plus, there is the constant disagreement over my mentor, friend, and sometimes employer Ranger. I trust him implicitly and we help each other often with various projects. Morelli thinks he is a lunatic and wants me to avoid him at all costs.

The text just said "dinner tonight… my place?" I replied "sure, want me to pick up Pino's?" His reply was instant and said "I'll take care of dinner. Dress nice… maybe the red dress" I didn't know how to take that. What did he mean he was taking care of dinner? Did he have leftovers? Did he already order pizza? Why does he want me to dress up to eat dinner at his house? I wasn't sure how to reply so I just said "ok – see you at 7" and went to get dressed.

The red dress seemed like overkill for dinner at Morelli's house. I settled on a fitted jersey dress that was comfortable but still sexy. I tamed my curls and put on a few extra coats of mascara. I slipped into a cute pair of strappy sandals and headed down to my car. Currently I was driving an old Chevy S-10 that I got on a deal because the engine had blown up twice. But as long as I didn't need to drive it over 65 mph it ran just fine. And I like driving a truck.

I walked into Morelli's house and was immediately ran over by Bob, his big goofy dog. Morelli came over the haul him off and kissed me hello. "No red dress?' he said, appraising my outfit.

"Seemed like overkill for dinner at your house." I replied.

He winked at me and said "I think it would've been just fine, but I like the choice you made, hopefully you keep making good choices tonight. "

Wondering what that meant I followed him into the kitchen and was immediately surprised. He usually had a billiards table in his dining room, but this was gone and he now had a beautiful dining room table. Which was formally set for dinner for two complete with flowers and candles. I could smell roast chicken coming from the kitchen. "Oh, my god, Joe! What is all this?" I exclaimed.

"I'm just getting ready for a change, "he said, "I felt like it was time to make this a real home."

"But what about your billiards table?" I asked.

"I had some guys from the force come over and help me move it downstairs. It took about 10 of us to get it down there and I'm pretty sure we all have hernia's now, but it made room up here for a real table and we can still shoot pool downstairs." He explained.

"I'm ready to make more changes in my life also," he continued from behind me while I admired the place setting with the matching patterns and beautiful flowers on the table. I turned around to find him on one knee. "Stephanie, I love what we have together and I want to make it permanent. I know we've talked about this over and over again and we've always just let it go. But I want you in my life forever. I want you to be Stephanie Morelli. Cupcake, will you marry me?"

I couldn't do anything but stare at him while he pulled a ring box out of his pocket and opened it. Inside was a perfect princess cut diamond ring with two smaller baguettes cut diamonds on either side. I was stunned.

"Cupcake, you gotta say something. You can't just leave me down here." Joe said, a look of anxiety crossing his face.

"yes" I whispered. Then, a smile breaking across my face I looked directly in his eyes and shouted "YES!"

He didn't need any more encouragement and jumped up, grabbing me and pressed his face to mine giving me one of the most passionate kisses of my lifetime. When we finally broke apart, he took the ring out of the box and slid it onto my finger. It was a perfect fit.

"I snuck one of your rings out of your jewelry box for sizing the last time I was at your house. I hope you hadn't thought you lost it."

I rarely wear rings and hadn't even noticed one was missing, but the thoughtfulness touched me that he thought to have it sized before he gave it to me.

"Dinner can wait," he said into my ear while planting kisses on my neck. "Right now, I want to see you upstairs wearing nothing but this ring."

I couldn't think of anything I would rather do and ran upstairs, pulling him behind me, to celebrate our engagement.

After we had properly celebrated our big relationship change, we headed back down for dinner. Morelli pulled roast chicken with rosemary potatoes and fresh asparagus out of the oven. "Where did all of this come from?" I asked. Because this was all clearly homemade and neither Morelli nor I had any skills in the kitchen. He smiled and said, "When I told my mom that I was finally going to propose she was so excited and she and Grandma Bella made a full dinner just for the two of us." He poured me a glass of wine that he had chilled and we sat down to eat. I couldn't stop staring at the ring on my left hand every time it flashed in the light. "I'm going to have to go straight to my mother's house in the morning. She is going to be so excited." I beamed.

Morelli agreed, "Your Mom has wanted you settled into Burg life with a couple of kids for years. This will make her so happy she won't need to do any extra ironing for a month. Especially knowing she won't have to hear about your cars exploding or chasing skips through the mall while you were in the middle of getting your hair done anymore."

"I'm not going to quit my job just because we are getting married" I said. "I like my job and I want to keep doing it for now at least. Maybe someday I'll be ready for a family but right now I think getting married is a big enough change for me."

"I moved my pool table downstairs and bought a dining room table and you aren't willing to make any changes" he retorted.

"What did you expect?" I shouted back at him. "Did you think as soon as I got a ring I'd happily give up my entire life, move in here, and starting putting dinner on your brand-new dining room table?"

"I expected you to make some changes! Relationships are compromise Cupcake. You don't just get to keep doing everything you want and expect me to make all of the changes."

"Joe, I don't want to fight with you. I love you and I'm ready to marry you, but I'm not ready to give up my whole life. What kind of compromise can we make here? I want to keep my job and I'm not ready to be a mom yet."

"Fine," he said, "I don't expect you to quit right now. But I need you to stay away from Ranger. I don't trust him and I know how he feels about you. And I don't want him around you."

"Joe, I work with Ranger! I can't just stay away from him." I explained.

He looked at me and shook his head. "You don't work with him anymore. He doesn't work for Vinnie. You work for him whenever he decides he wants you around. And shows up to seduce you whenever you're feeling vulnerable."

"He doesn't just show up and seduce me. And I work for him when he has a job that he can use my skills for because he values my input" I said as I pushed away from the table and started clearing dishes. This was not how I expected the evening to turn out after the way it began.

"He looks like you like you're lunch and he's always following you around like a stalker. Its creepy." Morelli insisted. "I can't have my fiancé or my wife having a relationship with a guy like that. I can't be committed to you knowing that you are out there with him. That's the compromise I can make. Keep your job. We can wait on the kids. But, you gotta stay away from Ranger. I can't do this with you if he's in the picture."

As much as I didn't want to admit it, he had a point. Knowing my history with Ranger, I could see him not wanting me to continue to be around him. "But I can't do my job all the time without him. There are skips that I'm just not able to get on my own and I need his help. And I can't make ends meet without working for him."

"Cupcake" he looked at me eyes softening, "if you lived here with me, you wouldn't need to worry about making ends meet. And have you ever considered asking me to help you. I happen to have some skills in the catching criminal's department."

"I guess that would work" I conceded. "I'll have to talk to Ranger tomorrow and explain to him. I can't promise he will stop tracking me, but I'll ask. And I can call you for help with skips that Lula and I can't handle."

He smiled and pulled me in close to him. "I knew we could work this out." His lips found my earlobe and then down my neck. He slid his hands around my waist. Our lips found each other and the kisses deepened until we decided to go back upstairs to celebrate our engagement one more time.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning I threw on some jeans and a girly t-shirt that I had left at Joe's house, swiped on some mascara and headed out to my S-10. My ring glinted in the sunlight as I locked the front door and I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. I drove right to my mom's house. Grandma Mazur was waiting at the front door when I pulled up.

"Stephanie, I'm glad you're here. I'm going to the Bianchi viewing at 5:00pm and I need gossip. I heard you chased a guy through a chicken coop yesterday and I need details. You know how everyone looks to me to keep up with the news of the neighborhood." Grandma said as soon as I walked through the door.

I found my mother in the kitchen starting on the pineapple upside down cake for dinner. "Stephanie, I wasn't expecting you this morning. Is everything ok? Did your car blow up again?"

"Relax mom, I'm here with good news today" I said as I raised up my left hand flashing the bling.

My mother and Grandma launched into simultaneous screeches that I'm pretty sure only dolphins can interpret. "Joe asked me last night and I said yes!"

"Does this mean you are finally going to stop working for your cousin and start a family?" my mom asked.

"Not quite yet, mom." I explained. "Joe and I want to spend some time adjusting to be married before we add kids to the mix. And I'm not ready to give up my job either. I like my job. Actually, I need to get to work. I just wanted to stop by to give you the good news."

"Well bring Joseph by for dinner tonight at 6:00pm. I'm already making pineapple upside down cake. Your sister is coming over with Albert and the kids. We'll have a celebration and can start talking about plans."

I agreed to dinner headed off feeling light and excited about my day. I stopped off for celebratory doughnuts on my way into the office and ate two Boston creams while I was driving.

By the time I walked in the front door of the office, the news had already spread. Lula launched herself off the couch as me the second I opened the door and grabbed my hand, almost making me drop the donut box on the ground.

"Girl its true. After all these years Morelli finally put a ring on it." She shoved my hand into Connie's face with such force I don't think she could even get her eyes to focus.

I set down the box of doughnuts and helped myself to a custard filled long john while I told them the story.

Lula looked surprised when I told them about cutting ties with Ranger. "You're going to give up Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome? What if you have to catch a real slippery skip? I mean, I'm not always available to help you, so it's nice to have him around as backup for when I'm busy."

"Joe said he would help when I needed him to. And I have to say, it isn't totally unreasonable for him not to want me to spend time with him."

At that time, Vinnie threw the door to his office open and shouted out into the main room, "Steph, I heard your good news. This doesn't mean you're leaving me in the lurch, does it? I don't want to have to call Joyce Barnhart. I'll never get any of my money back."

"Don't worry Vinnie, I'm not quitting any time soon. I'm not quite ready to give up my life entirely. I'll let you know if or when we get there."

"Well then what are you doing standing around? We've got 3 skips in the wind that aren't going to just walk themselves into court" Vinnie said as he turned around back into his office shutting the door behind him.

Last I knew, there was only one skip remaining after I brought in the guy from the chicken coop, so a few more must have come in yesterday. I wasn't having any luck tracking the other one down. His house was vacant, friends hadn't seen him, and he hadn't shown up for work. I thought he had probably left town. Connie handed me the new files as she and Lula talked about plans for my wedding. I wasn't quite ready for wedding plans so I looked over the files.

Jessica Russo was arrested for theft. File said that her fiancé ended their engagement when he knocked up his secretary and took back the ring. She snuck into his house while he and the secretary were both at work, using the key he had given her, and took the ring back. Apparently, she decided that she should get to keep it since he had given it to her and then he decided to end it. Having coming newly into the possession of an engagement ring, I could understand how she felt. Her ex-fiancé; however, was less understanding and pressed charges for theft.

The other file was for Nathanial Jackson. His file was thick and he had been arrested many times in the past for everything from assault, to drugs, to trafficking. This time, Vinnie had bailed him out for gun possession. Which I suspected he had been arrested for because the cops couldn't get evidence to support the charge they wanted to give him, since everyone in Jersey carries a gun and the cops rarely arrest anyone for it. Well, everyone but me. Guns make me nervous so I usually leave mine at home in my cookie jar. I looked at the address and it was Stark street and based on the street number, it wasn't on the good part of Stark. This one I was less excited about going after. Morelli might be getting a call sooner than expected.

The door to the bonds office opened and the entire room electrified. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up and I knew who had just walked in. I couldn't hear him move but within seconds I felt his hand on the back of my neck. His hands trailed down my arm until it reached my hand and then he lifted my hand as I turned to face him. "Babe" was all he said as he looked down at the ring on my finger. As I looked into Ranger's eyes, I couldn't help the feeling that ran through me that I was betraying him but I quickly pushed it away. He knew I wanted to get married and have a family someday and that was never going to be an option for him. So, he must have known that I would someday be getting married to someone else and he had to expect Morelli.

"He asked me last night" I said, by way of explanation.

"So I heard" was his only response.

"The news reached you already then? Is that why you're here? Or do you have business with Vinnie?" I asked, nervously, as I wasn't quite prepared to have this conversation with him yet.

"I heard a rumor and decided to stop by and verify it before I started by day. I was in this part of town anyway." He answered, face giving away nothing.

"Well, I'm glad you're here, because I need to talk to you. Can we step outside?" I said as I started walking toward the alley behind the office. I figured that would give us a little privacy as there are no windows and the only person who goes back there is Vinnie when he comes in or leaves. Ranger followed me out and shut the door behind him.

"He told you to stay away from me." Ranger said, looking me straight in the eyes. It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes" I answered, slightly ashamed "and I agreed. I can understand his point. It isn't like you and I were ever strictly co-workers and if I were him then I wouldn't want me around you either."

"You're going to have to start carrying your gun. And it has to be loaded. If you aren't going to call me for backup you need something other than Lula and your stun gun." His voice was soft but stern.

"Morelli offered to give me backup for the trickier cases." I told him. The look in his eyes he gave in response seemed to say he didn't have a lot of faith in that plan. "I'm not going to be able to do any more Rangeman jobs. I'll be moving into Joe's house after the wedding so I won't need the extra money. I hope you can find someone else to fill in my place when you need. And you need to stop tracking me. If I'm not working for you and we aren't spending time together anymore, there really isn't any reason you need to keep track of me." I said it all in a rush. Desperate to get it over with quickly, like pulling off a Band-Aid.

"Babe" he said softly "I can find someone to do the work you do for Rangeman, but no one will ever fill your place. And I'm not going to stop tracking you. I track you because I care about you. You marrying Morelli doesn't change that fact. 'm going to continue tracking you, but I'll stay out of your way unless you call me. Don't forget, you can always still call me." He then pressed his lips to mine for a soft kiss which quickly grew in passion and when he pulled away I realized I had both arms wrapped around his body pulling him closer. He detached himself from me and then turned and walked away back through the bonds office. I stayed in the alleyway a few minutes trying to get my head around the drastic alterations my life had taken since the previous night's dinner.

When I walked back into the bond's office Lula piped up right away "Well based on his facial expression and the way he stormed out of here I'm assuming he was less excited about your news."

"Let's go check on Jessica Russo" I responded. "File says she lives out by cluck in a bucket so if we can get her to come in, we can stop for lunch."


	3. Chapter 3

Jessica had moved back in with her parents after the unfortunate demise of her engagement. Her parents lived in a nice house, just outside of the Burg. Not quite in the Burg but if you didn't know where the official lines were drawn you might not know. They lived close enough to keep up on all the Burg gossip. I expected this to go pretty easily, so I had Lula wait in the car. She was a first-time offender and I was pretty sure once I explained the felony charges for not showing up to court I could talk her into coming back down to the station with me.

I knocked on her parent's front door and her mother answered. "Hi Mrs. Russo, I'm Stephanie Plum. Is Jessica here? I wanted to talk with her for a minute." I didn't want to play the bounty hunter card too quickly in case Mom decided to get a little overprotective of her daughter.

"Stephanie Plum, how exciting! You must be very excited to be marrying Joe Morelli. He is such a looker and such a good cop. You really got a good one there. Not like poor Jessica. We thought her David was such a good catch but turns out he was stuffing his secretary the entire time. Jessica thought he was working extra hours to help pay for the wedding and so she wouldn't have to work. Poor dear, now she really has nothing since she gave up her apartment and her job to live with him and let him support her. Come right in though, I'm sure she will be happy to see you."

Suddenly I was feeling a little dizzy. Maybe I shouldn't have had that last doughnut before I left the bonds office, but I felt like I deserved it after that rough conversation with Ranger. And watching him walk away. Mrs. Russo left me standing in the living room and went to get Jessica. Moments later, Jessica appeared in the doorway wearing stained sweatpants and looking like she hadn't had a shower in a while. "I know why you're here" she said flatly.

Her eyes cut to the ring on my finger. "You're either here just to show off your new bling and rub your happiness in my face. Which I doubt since our paths barely cross. Or you are here for your stupid cousin to get me to go back to jail for getting a piece of my own jewelry out of my house. Which isn't going to happen. I'm not going to court because I didn't steal anything and I'm not going to justify that to a judge."

I tried the whole not showing up for court makes you a felon speech and tried to convince her to come back down to court with me to get rebounded out so she could have her trial date re-set but she still refused.

"If anyone should be going to jail it's him for breach of contract!" she shouted. "He gave me a ring as a gift and promised to take care of me. I moved into his house and quit my job. I was planning a wedding and cleaning up after him and making him dinner every night. Then, all of sudden, he comes home and tells me that Tiffany is pregnant. Like a dummy I tell him that is exciting and that I didn't even know she was seeing anyone and offered to pick up a present for her from us. That's when he told me it was his. And he was going to be marrying her instead of me because she was having his baby, so I needed to move out of his house. Which I did right away because I didn't want to spend any more time around him than I needed. And when he asked for the ring back I gave it to him. But then, as I lay in my childhood bed at my parent's house with no job, no house, and no fiancé I realized that ring was mine. He gave it to me and then for no reason on my part, decided he wanted it back. Well I decided he can't have it back and since it was mine, I used the key for the house he gave me to go back and get it while they were at work. It wasn't stealing because it was mine and it wasn't breaking and entering because I had a key. So, I'm not going to jail just because he decided to be an asshole."

She was walking around her parents living room while she was ranting and the ring on my left hand kept getting heavier and heavier the longer she went on. "What do you want the ring for?" I asked her.

"I don't know." She answered. "I just don't want her to have it. She has my whole life. My fiancé, my house, my everything. I didn't want him to give her my ring."

"What if I went to talk to him? And I got him to sell your ring back to the jeweler and then if he wants to buy her a ring, he will have to buy her a different ring. Would you go back to court then?" I offered.

"You would do that for me? Yeah, if you can get him to sell the ring back and not just give it to that homewrecking skank I'll go back to court with you."

Lula and the firebird were nowhere to be seen when I walked back out the front door. I pulled out my cell phone and called her. "Where'd you go?" I asked once she answered.

"You were in there forever and my blood sugar started dropping so I headed over to the cluck in a bucket. It was an emergency. I almost had one of those hypo-gastromic episodes."

"Did you get me anything? Are you going to come back and get me?" I asked.

"I ordered you some chicken, but my blood sugar must have been really low because I ate that too. And while I was there I was inspired by the yellow cluck in a bucket hats. I decided it was time for a change. I text my hairdresser and she had an opening right now, so I'm headed over there right now and she is going to make my hair yellow like the sunshine." Lula disconnected the call.

I was left standing on the sidewalk, not quite sure what to do now. Ordinarily, I would call Ranger and ask him to come pick me up. But I had just promised Joe that I would stay away from Ranger. That kiss at the office this morning probably wasn't the best way to kick off that promise. I could call my father, but that would just give my mother more ammunition for why I should quit my job now that Joe and I were getting engaged. That only left one choice. I pressed the speed dial for Morelli.

"Cupcake, miss me already?" He answered.

"Lula had a hair emergency and left me stranded outside a skip's house. Can you come pick me up?" I could hear his breathing so I knew the call hadn't dropped, but he didn't respond for a while. His voice was flat when he finally said "fine, where are you?" I gave him the address and he ended the call. I waited on the sidewalk and about 20 minutes later his car pulled up.

He said nothing as I got in and he started to pull away. "Where am I taking you?" he finally asked. "just back to the bonds office so I can get my truck." I said.

"What happened to your skip?" he asked.

"Just a misunderstanding" I explained "she wasn't quite ready to go back to jail at this time, so I'm going to help her take care of a few things and then she'll go." He shook his head and was quiet the rest of the drive.

"You told me to call you." I said as we pulled to a stop in front of the bonds office. "Usually I would've called Ranger but you asked me to call you instead, so I did."

"Yeah, I get that, but I actually have a real job." He replied.

"He has a real job" I said "He runs a security company. He just always made time to help me when I needed it."

"I came to get you, didn't I? You called. I helped. I don't have to be excited about it." He leaned over and kissed me gently. "I am glad I got to see you though." I told him about dinner at my parents and he said he would pick me up at home. He kissed me goodbye one more time and then I got out and headed over to my truck. I debated just calling it a day and heading back to my apartment, but frankly my talk with Jessica Russo had me a little nervous and I wanted to make sure I could pay my rent at least for another month.

I decided to head over to have a chat with Jessica's ex-fiancé. She gave me his name, address, and work information and since it was just afternoon I figured I would try him at work. I parked in front of a fairly non-descript office building and followed the signs back to his office. A perky blonde at least 10 years younger than Jessica was seated at a desk when I opened the door. "Hi, how can I help you?" She said cheerfully.

"I'm Stephanie Plum. I represent Vincent Plum Bail Bonds and I'm here to see Mr. Ritchie regarding the incident with Jessica Russo." I explained.

Her face visibly soured when I said Jessica's name, but she managed to keep the cheerful tone in her voice when she buzzed into the office and told him he had a visitor and explained who I was. He told her to send me in and she led the way over and opened the door.

"MS Plum, pleased to meet you. I've read about several of your adventures in the paper. How can I possibly help you with Jessica? I heard that she had missed her court date but unfortunately I don't have any contact with her any longer." He said politely as he crossed the office and shook my hand. He gestured to a few chairs that had been set up in the corner by a table and offered me a beverage which I declined.

"I've already been to see Jessica actually" I began "She explained the situation to me and I have to admit, she has some very valid points."

"I'm afraid that isn't up to you to decide. That is for the court to decide and she neglected to let them make that decision." He said, his eyes narrowing at me.

I smiled at him as I said, "I've been giving this some thought and I think it is in your best interest to listen to what I have to say. Her argument is that you gave her the ring as a gift and asked her to move into your house providing her a key. The ending of your relationship doesn't necessarily mean the ring belongs to you again. And if she used a key you gave her to retrieve her own property out of a house she used to live in, there really has been no crime. If the court agrees with her, you will have to give her back the ring. And I think she stands an excellent chance of winning that argument, given the circumstances."

We both looked toward the closed door knowing who sat just outside. "What does she want?" he asked.

"She just doesn't want little miss sunshine out there to end up with her fiancé, her house, and her ring. She wants you to sell the ring and drop the charges. Once the ring is gone she really doesn't want anything to do with you anymore. But you did kind of take away her entire life and make it impossible for her to go back to her old life. So even, though you don't have to do this for her, maybe you want to give her just this one thing?"

"I never planned this you know. When I proposed, I meant it. And then she moved in and everything changed. She stopped working and became consumed with wedding plans. Suddenly she was there all the time and I wasn't prepared for that. I was really just working late when it started. Trying to make extra money for the wedding. Tiffany was here with me and one thing led to another and it just sort of happened. Before I know it, Tiffany and I are sneaking around and I'm lying to Jessica. I never meant to hurt her this way." He looked remorseful as he considered the events of the last few months. "If all she wants is me to sell the ring, I can do that. I doubt Tiffany would wear it anyway."

"And the charges?" I asked

"Yeah, tell her I'll drop the charges. But I need the key to my house back. If she has anything else there that she thinks is hers she is going to have to call me and ask."

I told him I would give Jessica the good news and headed out. Wishing Tiffany good luck on my way out the door.

Once the charges against Jessica were dropped, Vinnie would get his bail money back, so there was no real need to bring her in. That left Nathanial Jackson, who I wasn't prepared to go after alone and the guy no one had seen in weeks. I was out of leads on him, so I decided to call it a day and headed back to my apartment.


	4. Chapter 4

Rex came out of his soup can wiggled his whiskers at me when I walked in the door. I showed him my ring and he was unimpressed. I dropped a fruit loop into his cage and he ran over, stuffed it into his cheeks, and ran back into his soup can. I guess Rex has different priorities than me.

I collapsed on my bed to think. I had two hours before I had to be to my parents, so that left some time think about the last 24 hours. I looked down at the ring on my hand and smiled. It was everything I thought I wanted. Morelli was a solid guy and I knew I could trust him. But part of me was still terrified of ending up like Jessica Russo. Her life was exactly where she wanted it and then it all disappeared with one slutty secretary.

I ended up falling asleep and woke up when Morelli called to say he was going to have to meet me at my parents because he was still at work and would have to go right there for dinner. I got up and ran a brush through my hair, swiped on a little extra mascara and headed over for dinner.

The clock on my S-10 said 5:58pm when I slid into park. Which was perfect because it left minimal time for my mom to start her interrogation before dinner was on the table at exactly 6:00pm. Morelli parked right behind me and we headed in together. My sister and her husband and children were already there. Mary Alice was galloping around neighing and my sister was chasing after her trying to get her to wash her hands for dinner. Grandma and Mom were trying to get the food to the table. It was total pandemonium and we almost were able to slip in undetected. But my family had years of practice at pandemonium and were able to multitask. My sister started shouting congratulations at me and my Mom started shouting about reserving halls and that we needed to pick a date and put a deposit down before all of the good halls were taken.

Somehow at exactly 6:00 we all sat down to dinner and everyone started passing dishes to my father. The quicker he ate the more likely he was to tolerate Grandma Mazur. My sister and mom quickly started spouting off wedding questions about dates, and venues, and dresses. "Guys, its barely been a day. I don't know about any of that stuff yet!" I exclaimed.

"Well we can't delay too long. You two have been waiting long enough. If you don't come up with a date soon you'll be stuck with the VFW hall or waiting until next year. I've already made some calls." My mother said.

"We'll get it figured out soon, Helen" Joe said. He then started talking to Albert and my father about baseball and I've never been so grateful to eat in silence.

After dinner, I offered to drop Grandma off at Stiva's funeral home for the visitation. My mom wrapped up leftovers for me to take back and Joe headed right home to let Bob out. Grandma didn't bring up the engagement at all on the drive and instead decided to fill me in on the Burg gossip. I parked in front of Stiva's to let her out and made sure she had a ride home. Before she got out she said "Stephanie, I'm happy for you if you're happy. I lived a long time with your grandfather and had a great life. But it wasn't until after he died that I felt like I really got to start living my life. I don't want that for you. I want you to live your life for your whole life. I kind of always thought you end up with quiet, dark, scary guy."

"Ranger isn't interested in a relationship Grandma. Joe and I are working on it. And I am happy."

She got out of the car and said "You don't have to convince me. Just yourself. But I have to get going, I need to get a good spot especially with the engagement news. Joe Morelli settling down will be the talk of the night and I have all the details."

By the time I got back to Joe's, he was already in the shower. I said hi to Bob and laid down on his bed. I looked around the room and tried to picture myself living there. We had spent plenty of overnights, and had a few short trials at co-habitation, but those had never ended well.

The next thing I knew an alarm was going off. Joe reached over me and silenced the alarm. "Morning cupcake" he said as he got out of bed. I got up behind him and realized I wasn't wearing a bra or pants. I still had on my underwear though.

"Did we have sex last night?" I asked as we headed into the kitchen.

He laughed as he poured two cups of coffee and handed me one, "Cupcake if we had sex you would have remembered it. When I got out of the shower you were already passed out on top of the sheets. So, I made you a little more comfortable and then went to sleep." We both drank our coffee for a few minutes in comfortable silence. "What's your plan for today?" he asked me.

"Well, Nathanial Jackson is the only skip that I have any chance of catching. I thought I'd go by my apartment to change and get ready and then see if I can talk him into coming back in."

Joe scowled at that. "He is a dangerous guy Steph. I'd rather you just stay away from him. Let Vinnie give him to someone else."

"He's got a high bond. If I can bring him in it will take care of my bills for the month. Besides, I don't have any other skips to work on today anyway."

"You don't need the money. Just move in here and I can take care of all of the bills. Instead of going after dangerous criminals in bad parts of town, why don't you just go get your clothes and move in here. You can have Vinnie reassign the dangerous ones and keep going bringing in the confused elderly and bored housewives."

"I thought you understood. I thought we compromised. I thought you were going to help when I needed it."

"I have a real job. I can't just take off traipsing around town after you every day." He said exasperated.

I set my coffee cup down on the counter. "My job is a real job too." I said quietly and turned and walked out of the kitchen. As I was getting my stuff together, I heard him go into the bedroom and get dressed and leave. I didn't have any clothes left at his house, so I put yesterday's clothes back on and headed out to my car. I ran by my apartment to feed Rex and change.

Rex was asleep in his soup can when I got home. I took a quick shower, dried my hair, and pulled it back into a ponytail so I didn't have to style it. I made myself a peanut butter and olive sandwich and Rex came out to say hi. I broke off a corner of my sandwich and dropped it in his bowl. He crinkled his nose at me by way of thanks. Rex had always been my longest relationship. He never expected anything out of me other than a corner of my sandwich or my doughnut and he never asked me to quit my job or stop talking to a friend.

I looked around my apartment and briefly considered collapsing on the couch and vegging out in front of brainless TV all day. But that wasn't going to pay the bills, so I grabbed my messenger bag and took off for the bonds office.


	5. Chapter 5

Lula was reading a Star magazine and Connie was painting her nails when I walked in. She was just finishing up her hand when I walked in and she said "We didn't think you were going to be in today. We thought you would be busy with wedding plans. Vinnie has been in a bad mood all morning about how you aren't bringing in any skips."

"Well he can relax because I'm here now. I just had to go back to my apartment today to get ready because I didn't have anything at Joe's house." I said as I helped myself to a doughnut out of the box on Connie's desk.

Lula got up and said "I don't know how you ever get any sleep around that guy. I would be up all night if you know what I mean."

"I actually fell asleep with my clothes on last night. I didn't even wake up when he came to bed." I told them and Lula grimaced. "Seems like a waste."

"Anything new?" I asked Connie.

"Nope" she said "The charges against Jessica Russo were dropped, so we don't have to bring her in anymore. All we have left are Nathanial Jackson and John Dupont."

"Anything new on Dupont?" I asked hopefully.

"Nothing" she said "I called house and his employer again this morning. No answer and no one has seen him."

"I guess that means we are going after Nathanial Jackson then." I looked at Lula. She was dressed to match her new yellow hair in a skin tight yellow sequin skirt and tube top that was two sizes too small.

"I used to know him when I was a ho. He wasn't a real pleasant guy any time of day, but he gets real unpleasant after he has a few drinks. I'd expect he's still sober now though, so if we are going to do this we'd better get going." I made sure my messenger bag was loaded up with a stun gun, pepper spray, and handcuffs. Lula followed me out and started toward my S-10 saying "I'm not letting that angry drunk inside my baby. We're taking your car and we can toss him in the bed here when we go to take him in."

I got in and we drove toward Stark. We drove further and further down Stark looking for the address on the file. We drove past the semi-respectable businesses, past the businesses which are just fronts for less respectable businesses, and past buildings that were just boarded up. We finally arrived at a building that looked like it had been destroyed by fire 10 years ago, but there was someone sitting on the stoop, so it wasn't totally abandoned.

"What's your plan?" Lula asked.

"I'm not sure" I replied. "His bond was big because of his priors. But his charges are minor. Maybe I'll be able to just talk him into coming down with me to get re-bonded."

"Well if that is your whole plan then I should just stay here and watch the car" Lula said. "I mean, this is  
a bad part of town. You don't want to leave your car unattended. Not that I have any problem going up there with you. I'd go up and bring him in for you, but since you are already planning on going up there I should stay with the car."

"Fine" I said "but whatever you do, don't leave. Do not abandon me on this part of Stark."

Lula just looked at me with a shocked look on her face and said "Would I ever do anything like that?"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my supplies. I made sure my handcuffs were accessible in my back jeans pocket, stun gun in my jacket pocket, and pepper spray in my front jeans pocket. I looked at the guy on the front stoop who hadn't moved a muscle since we pulled up. Probably security and would notify Nathanial as soon as I entered the building. I took a deep breath and headed in the building.

Nathanial's file said he lived in apartment 4C, which means 4th floor. I decided I didn't need any more exercise so I headed to the elevator. I pushed the button for up and nothing happened. I pushed it a few more times and still nothing. The guy from the front stoop shouted into the lobby "elevator's broken."

"Of course it is" I muttered to myself as I went to the stairs. I was sweaty and out of breath by the time I made it to the 4th floor. I found apartment 4C and knocked on the door. It was opened before I even finished knocking by a giant man that looked just like the mugshot in my file. He looked a little mean and smelled a little drunk. Apparently, Nathanial had started early today.

"Nathanial Jackson, I'm Stephanie Plum and I represent your bond agency. You missed your court date and I need you to come with me to get a new court date set."

He stared at me for a minute before saying "I'm not going to be doing that. It was a bogus charge. I could've had you stopped in the lobby but when I heard the famous Stephanie Plum was coming up to see me I had to see you myself." His eyes appraised my body as he continued "Now I'm glad I made that decision. You want to stay up here and party?" he gestured back to his apartment opening the door. I put my hand in my pocket turning on my stun gun and took a step inside. As he reached toward me I pulled my stun gun out pressing it to his neck and pushed the button.

His eyes got big and he charged me like a bull, pushing me back into the hall and into the wall. He then fell, pulling me down with him and landing on top of me passed out. I couldn't wiggle out from under him or push him off of me. I managed to get me phone out of my pocket and dial Lula. When she answered, I said "hurry and get up here. I got him but he's unconscious and passed out on top of me. I can't move." It seemed like ages before Lula pushed open the stairway door. She was sheened with sweat and sounded like she just finished a marathon. Nathanial was still passed out on top of me. Lula walked over and appraised the situation.

"If we work together I think we can roll him off of me. Then I can get my handcuffs out of my pocket and cuff him" I said.

"What then?" Lula asked "We are on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator and one of his thugs is on the front step. I don't think we are just going to roll him out of the building."

"First things first, let's just get him off of me" I said. She grabbed his right arm and pulled and I pushed from underneath and wiggled until I managed to work my way out from under him. I got the cuffs out of my back pocket and secured his wrists. He was laying on his back so I just locked the handcuffs in front of him rather than trying to figure out how to roll him over. Lula and I each grabbed a shoulder and hauled him over to the top of the stairs. We stopped at the top of the stairs to consider our options. Lula just wanted to push him down and let him roll down to the first floor. I was pretty sure that was a terrible idea but didn't have any better ones.

We were still standing there when Nathanial came to life. When he came to, he did it quickly and he had gone from a little mean to very mean. He shoved me into Lula and we went tumbling down the stairs. He then took off for his apartment and as soon as Lula and I stopped rolling we were up and running. We ran down all 4 flights of stairs and out the front door of the building. My S-10 was still in front of the building which I was thankful for because I didn't want to wait to see what surprise Nathanial had gone to find in his apartment. As I ran up to my S-10 I stepped in a puddle and smelled gas. I looked down to find a giant puddle of gasoline under my S-10 that I was pretty sure hadn't been there when I parked. I looked over at the guy on the stoop and he just waved with a small knife in his hand.

Nathanial burst out of the front door with a gun in his hands, still handcuffed in front of him. Lula and I both hid behind the S-10. "Don't worry" Lula said pulling her gun out of her purse. "I got this."

"Lula NO!" I shouted "Don't shoot. We are literally standing in a puddle of gas right now."

Nathanial wasn't as worried about the gas fumes and started shooting. One of the bullets hit my S-10 just right and started a spark. Lula and I took off running and made it to the next building before the fire started. Nathanial apparently wasn't expecting the fire and ran back into his building with his thug.

Lula and I stayed hidden behind the building while we caught our breaths watching my S-10 burn.

"I guess he didn't want to go with you today" Lula said.

I pulled out my phone with my stomach in knots. I didn't want to have to call Morelli to rescue me again. Usually when one of my cars exploded, Ranger would just show up out of nowhere. But I had asked him to stay away and promised Joe I would call him, so I pressed the speed dial on my phone.

"What now?" was all he said when he answered the phone.

"Lula and I are stranded, I need a ride" I could hear him crunching antacids through the phone.

"Where?" he asked and I gave him the address. "Jesus Christ" he said "stay out of site and keep your pepper spray in your hand. I'm on my way" and he disconnected the phone. I went to put my phone back in my pocket and get out my pepper spray, as requested. I thought I saw a black vehicle out of the corner of my eye and turned quickly but nothing was there.

Morelli pulled up less than 10 minutes later, cop light flashing on the top of his car. Lula and I got in and he pulled right back out. "Was that burning pile of rubble your car?" he grumbled.

"It wasn't my fault. Nathanial and his thug didn't coordinate their plans to disable us and the bullet caught the gas on fire" I started to explain.

"I don't want to hear it" Morelli said "this is why I told you not to go after him. He is dangerous. He could have hurt you or killed you both."

"This is my job. I keep telling you this and you keep telling me you understand but then you keep telling me to quit"

Joe pulled to a stop in front of the bonds office and said "I can't talk about this right now. I have to get back to MY job, which is not just picking you up from whatever situation you've got yourself caught up in. I also have a real job." Lula and I got out of the car and he peeled out leaving us standing on the sidewalk.

Connie looked up as we walked in "That little exchange out front did not look pleasant and you both smell like gas and smoke. I'm assuming things didn't go well with Nathanial."

Lula declared that she was going home because the fire had ruined her look for the day and it was too late to recreate it. I had her drop me off at my apartment on her way.

I went straight to my shower when I arrived, leaving my shoes in the hall to avoid tracking gas into my apartment. I would have to throw them away. I got out and pulled on a comfy pair of sweats and an old Trenton PD sweatshirt that Joe had left and got a beer out of the fridge.

I sat down on the couch and thought about what Joe was asking. Was it really too much to ask for me not to put myself in dangerous situations? He wasn't asking out of some caveman desire to keep me locked up at home. He was asking because he cares about me and doesn't want me to get hurt. But Ranger also cares about me. And he never asked me to stop going after skips, he just taught me how to be better at it and found ways to be there for me to keep me safe. I shook my head. I had to push Ranger out of my head. He isn't really an option. He had made it perfectly clear that he was on this journey through life on his own.

I turned on my TV and got lost in a marathon of Friends re-runs while I waited for Joe to show up to finish our fight. My mother started calling every 30 minutes so I knew someone had told her about my latest car fire. I ignored the calls because I wasn't ready to talk to my mother yet. Before I knew it, my stomach was growing. I looked at the clock and it was 8:30pm. I looked at my phone and I had no messages or calls from Joe. I got up and looked in the fridge. My leftovers from my mothers were at Joe's house and I didn't have much in my fridge. I grabbed a container of cheese puffs and sat back down on the couch.

"What do you think I should do Rex? Do I call him? I figured when I wasn't waiting for him at his house he would come over here." Rex didn't have much advice for me. I decided that we both needed the night to cool down and didn't call him. I found an old movie on TV and watched that while staring at my phone and willing it to ring or willing my door to open. Eventually I went to bed and tossed and turned all night.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning I got up early and showered and dressed. I was looking for my car keys in my messenger bag when I remembered about my latest car disaster. I looked out my window into the parking lot and found no car. There was a black car I didn't recognize parked in the very corner of the lot. I stared at it for a minute but decided there were lots of black cars in the world.

I still hadn't heard from Morelli but decided to be the bigger person and call him first. "Little early for a disaster today, isn't it Cupcake?" was his answer.

"I didn't hear from you last night, I just wanted to check in" I replied.

"I figured when I got home last night and you weren't here, that was all the sign I needed that you didn't want to see me."

"I was covered in gas and smoke yesterday. I needed to shower and change and I don't have any clothes at your house so I had Lula drop me off at home. Once I got here, I didn't have any way of getting to your house. I figured you would come here once you got home" I explained.

"Well maybe today you can get your stuff together and move it over to my house. Then we won't run into this particular problem again" he said.

"I'm going to call my mom and ask to borrow big blue. Can we plan on dinner tonight? Your place?" I asked, ignoring his comment about me moving in.

His voice was soft over the phone "When I gave you that ring, it meant I wanted to have dinner with you every night. At our place."

"I'll see you tonight then" I said. "Tonight" he replied as he disconnected.

I figured I'd better get it over with quickly and called my mom. She picked up on the first ring, "Why have I been getting calls from everyone in the neighborhood telling me that you were in a shootout and your car exploded?"

"Mom, don't worry. I wasn't in a shootout and my car didn't explode. The bullet accidently caused a spark and lit the gas on fire. My S-10 was destroyed though. Can I borrow big blue until I can afford to buy a new car?" I asked.

"I don't see why you have to buy a new car at all. Once you and Joseph are married you can stop this sham of a job and stay home like a respectable woman. Then you wouldn't need your own car but I'm sure if you wanted one Joe would buy you one."

"We've been over this, Mom. I like my job and I'm keeping my job. Can you come pick me up and let me borrow the car?" I was starting to get annoyed with the number of times I've had to explain this.

"In fact, I can come pick you up. That wasn't the only reason I was trying to talk to you yesterday. I called Mary Delorenzo from the bridal shop and she has an appointment for today, so I booked it for you. Valerie is free so I thought that we could all go and you could try on bridal gowns and we could finally get started planning this wedding" she sounded excited over the phone.

"Yeah ok mom we can go to the dress shop, just come pick me up."

I was waiting in the lobby when I saw her pull up. She had Grandma Mazur in the front and my sister Valerie in the back. I hopped into the back seat and everyone started talking at once. I let the three of them chatter about the points of various fabrics and train lengths.

I was overwhelmed with the amount of white fabric when we entered the dress shop. Mary's excitement could match my mother's as she talked about how amazing it was that Joe Morelli had finally proposed and looked at my ring. She and my family ran around the store pulling various dresses for me to try while I stood there watching and trying not to hyperventilate. There were about 20 dresses on the rack before Mary asked me what I thought I was looking for in a dress.

My first wedding I had done the whole big, traditional, Burg wedding with the poufy dress and the cathedral length veil. I didn't want to do that whole thing again, but I really hadn't had a lot of time to look at pictures or think about a dress. "I think I want something more simple, something more fitted to my body." All four women stopped and stared at me.

"What are you talking about?" my mother said "Simple and fitted is not how it is done. Just try on some of the dresses we picked and we'll help you figure out what you want." She started pushing me toward the dressing room. Mary followed me in with a dress that practically exploded out of the bag when she unzipped it. She got me zipped and buttoned in. It was so big I could barely fit back out the door to show my family.

They, of course, loved it. I had to tell them it was just too big and made my way back to the dressing room. Dresses two and three were pretty much the same. By dress four Mary agreed to put me in something "less ball gown and more A-line." But when she zipped me into the dress, I thought it looked only slightly smaller than the previous dresses. I stood on the platform and my mother and sister raved about it. It was a beautiful dress but I just couldn't see myself in it. Grandma Mazur had wandered off while my mother, sister, and Mary were selling me on the virtues of the current dress. She came back holding a much smaller dress bag.

"How about this one Stephanie? It barely has any skirt at all!" We all looked over at the dress she was carrying. Inside the clear zippered bag was a white, spandex, strapless, mini-dress. The skirt was maybe 2-3 inches. It looked like something Lula would've worn during her ho days on Stark street. My mom's eyes just about bugged out of her head and she went as pale as a ghost. I thought about trying it on just to see my mom's reaction, but decided she was having a rough enough day with my latest car disaster and told my grandma that I needed a little bit more skirt than that. Grandma shrugged and said "If I had an ass like Stephanie's this is the only kind of clothing I would wear" and then walked back into the shop to put the dress back.


	7. Chapter 7

I was standing there just looking out the window while Mary and my family discussed which dress they should try next when I saw him. John Dupont was sitting on a bench right across the street. I quickly went and grabbed my messenger bag and pulled out his file. Looking from the picture to the guy on the bench I was sure it was him. I ran out the front door of the dress shop with my messenger bag while Mary and my mother shouted after me.

I knew I had my handcuffs in my messenger bag and my stun gun and pepper spray. I walked quickly across the street and realized I wasn't going to be sneaking up on anyone wearing a giant wedding dress. "John Dupont" I said as I approached him. He looked up and recognized me immediately and was off and running. I wasn't letting him go because who knows when he would pop up again. I chased him down the street but he was getting away. I reached in my bag trying to find something that I could use to stop him without breaking stride, but the heels my mother insisted I wear to try on the dresses were slowing me down.

I pulled out the pepper spray but there was no way to spray it without getting myself. My hand found my stun gun but I was too far back to make any use of it. I had played one season of slow-pitch softball in high school and decided to see if I still had any of those skills. I pulled out the stun gun and threw it as hard as I could and pegged Dupont right in the back of the head. He stumbled and slowed down enough that I caught up and threw myself into a tackle, wrestling him to the ground. We scuffled on the sidewalk for a moment but I managed to hit him with the pepper spray and jump away. I found my handcuffs while he was sputtering and drooling on the sidewalk and once the cloud had cleared, I stepped back in and handcuffed him. This time I made sure to get his hands behind his back. I managed to get him to his feet and stood there a moment trying to plan my next move.

"Babe" I heard from behind me. I turned around and saw Ranger and Tank standing in the doorway of a convenience store right in front of the sidewalk where I had taken down Dupont. "Nice dress" he said, his eyes taking in the whole outfit.

"I was trying on dresses with my family when I saw him in front of the store. I've been looking to him for weeks with no leads so I wasn't letting him get away" I said by way of explanation.

"I see that" Ranger said "where's your gun?"

"I was just trying on wedding dresses!" I exclaimed "I wasn't planning on running down a skip. Why would I bring my gun?"

His eyes narrowed slightly as he said jerked his head toward Dupont "What are you going to do with him now?"

"I'm not really sure. I guess I'll have to get my mom to drive me down to the police station" I said.

"I could have Tank drive him, if you want" Ranger offered. "Then you could go back and change and meet him at the station. And your mom wouldn't have to deal with the aftermath of pepper spray in her car." Dupont was still drooling, crying, and spitting. I could imagine my mother would not be excited to let him in her car.

I chewed my lip, it was a tempting offer "I promised Joe I'd wouldn't ask you for help anymore. It won't look good if Rangeman brings in one of my skips."

Ranger shook his head slightly and said "It's up to you babe. But you didn't call me and I didn't track you here. If you want to stick him in the back of your mom's Buick, you can. But running into me was just a coincidence and I think if Morelli would rather you have this guy in the back of your mom's car than accept any help from me, that's really his problem."

Mary and my family were standing outside of the dress shop staring at me and the look on my mother's face wasn't very forgiving. I decided to postpone the fight and instead of fighting with my mother right now I would wait and hope Joe wouldn't hear about who drove my skip to the station. If he did, I would have that fight later. "I'd appreciate the assistance with getting him to the station. I'll just head back and change and I'll meet Tank there right away." I told Ranger.

I left Dupont sniffling on the sidewalk next to Ranger and Tank and ran across the street to my family. I explained the situation to them and told Mary we'd have to come back to try on dresses again. She looked at the snot stains, gravel, and tears on the dress I was wearing and told me to take all the time I needed before we came back. My mother drove straight home and walked straight into the kitchen where she set up her ironing board. I grabbed the keys for Grandma's Buick and drove to the station. Tank had already left and Dupont was already in the process of being booked back into the system. Tank had told them I would be along with the paperwork shortly and he was just delivery. I had been hoping to intercept Tank in the parking lot to decrease the changes of Joe hearing about Rangeman involvement. But today was not my lucky day.

I waited while the booking agent finished processing Dupont into the system and gave me my body receipt and I drove over to the bonds office.


	8. Chapter 8

Connie and Lula were surrounded by magazines when I walked into the office. Lula said she had heard I was dress shopping and, even though I hadn't officially asked her yet, decided to help me out by starting to look for a bridesmaid dress. She had enlisted Connie for help and they had systematically gone through what appeared to be every bridal magazine in Trenton.

I set my body receipt down on Connie's desk and said "I got Dupont. I managed to find and capture him all by myself."

"It was quite the takedown too" Connie said.

Confused, I asked her how she had heard already. "Someone got the whole thing on their phone and uploaded it to Facebook. It's already been shared over 1000 times. I think you're going to go viral" she proclaimed while she was writing out the check for my body receipt.

"Fantastic" I said opening my phone and clicking on my Facebook app. Sure enough, the top story on my news feed was a video of me chasing Dupont down the street in a wedding dress. I didn't watch the whole thing, I knew what had happened. At least I wouldn't have to explain this one to my mother because she had witnessed the whole thing.

Lula asked if I wanted to go back after Nathanial again today and I looked at the clock. My dress shopping takedown had taken most of the day and it was late afternoon. "Not today. I'm going to go pick up Pino's and head to Joe's. I haven't talked to him about yesterday yet and I'm sure he'll have something to say about today's video. We can start fresh on Nathanial tomorrow morning."

I went out to the Buick and drove over the Pino's to get a couple of meatball subs. Then I stopped and got a 6 pack of beer to go with it and headed over to Joe's. I was still out in the backyard with Bob when I heard his door open and the sound of footsteps. I turned around as Joe was walking through the door into the backyard.

He greeted me with a kiss and said "This is an improvement from the empty house I came home to yesterday. Did I smell meatball subs when I was walking through?"

We headed in and I tossed one of the meatballs out of my sub at Bob who caught it mid-air and swallowed it whole. Morelli got him a bowl of dog kibbles and we carried our subs into the living room to eat while we watched the game. After we finished eating we kept watching in silence, but Morelli didn't seem to be paying any attention to the game. He finally drained his beer and said "I thought you promised not to call him anymore."

I knew exactly what he was talking about, looks like I wasn't getting out of that fight after all. "I didn't call him. He was just there. And he wasn't following me, it was all just a coincidence." I explained.

He looked at me sadly, "It doesn't really matter why he was there. You accepted his help after I specifically asked you not to. You didn't even try to call me."

"He was already there. And you were at work. The last time I called you for help you yelled at me. I was going to try to get him my mom's backseat, but you saw how I was dressed and I couldn't leave him with just my mom and Grandma Mazur while I got changed. I would've had to bring him into the station wearing a wedding dress."

He smiled at me, "I did like the dress. But after yesterday, that was not the news I wanted to get today. I was at a crime scene yesterday when you called and wasn't really in a position to leave, but I wasn't going to leave you stranded on that section of Stark even long enough to make calls to find someone else to go get you. And then today I was coming out of an interrogation when someone told me that my fiancé had taken down a skip while she was wearing a wedding dress and one of the Rangeman thugs dropped him off for her."

He got up and walked into the kitchen coming back with another beer. He took a long drink before continuing "Then he showed me the video. Even knowing that you were going to catch him and be ok watching you chase him and take him down on the sidewalk had my stomach in knots." He walked over and looked out the window for a minute. I started to offer him assurance that I was fine but he stopped me. "That wasn't the worst part though. The worst part was the end, when you had the cuffs on him and had got him on his feet. And he shows up. The camera managed to catch both of your faces. He was looking at you like you some kind of delicacy. And then you turn around and see him and all the stress that was on your face just melted away. The video didn't pick up your voices. But I could tell he was offering to help and I could tell you wanted to take it. But you were saying no and I knew that was for me."

I didn't know what to say to that. Morelli was a bit more astute than I had thought. But I guess as he was one of the leading homicide detectives in Trenton, so I should have expected him to be better at reading people.

I hadn't thought of anything to say when he continued. "I really wish you would just stop doing this job. You're going to get yourself hurt and I can't always be immediately available to come rescue you. I can't do my job if I'm always on edge waiting for a call from you telling me that you are stranded because your car blew up again. Not to mention that this job is going to keep bringing you in contact with him and I don't trust him around you."

"It's not that I don't understand, but I can't give up my job. If I give up my job I give up my independence. I already have to give up my apartment and move in to your house. And all of your stuff is better than my stuff so I can't imagine you keeping any of my stuff. If I do all of that and you change your mind about me, I'm just like Jessica Russo. I'll have no job, no place to live, and no stuff other than my clothes. Rex and I would be living with my parents until I can find another new job."

It was his turn to stare at me. Finally, he said "That's why you won't quit your job? Because even though we are engaged you still aren't sure we are going to last? Why did you say yes?"

"I said yes because I love you. But I never want to be dependent on any guy ever again. It was hard starting over again after Dickie. I found that job as a lingerie buyer but then then that ended. I thought I was going to have to move in with my parents when I started with Vinnie. Which I really have you to thank for that." I smiled because Morelli was my first ever skip. If I hadn't had the motivation of getting back at Morelli for all of the crap he had done as a kid and teenager, I probably wouldn't have ever started working as a bounty hunter. "Your bounty got my rent all caught up and made me realize that I could really pay my bills."

Morelli looked almost nauseated when he said "You're never going to quit this job? Even after we are married and settled. You're always going to want to keep chasing criminals around town."

"I'm so sorry, but yes. The thought of a life as a traditional Burg wife sends me into a panic. I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop working. I don't know what the future is going to hold for me, but I can tell you for sure I won't be able to give it up anytime soon." Tears were starting to form in my eyes as I realized where this was going.

"Cupcake" he said, brushing a tear from my cheek with his thumb. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me. "I don't think I like where this conversation is going. I love you. But I'm ready to settle down. And I do want the traditional burg life. I want it with you, but I don't think I can live my life like this long term."

The tears were coming unchecked as I wrapped my arms around him. "I wish I could be different. I wish I could just be the Burg wife everyone wants me to be."

Morelli waited until the tears slowed and he asked "What do we do now?"

I looked down at the beautiful ring on my hand and around his comfortable house. "I don't see how we move forward from here."

He got up from the couch and said "Neither do I." He started collecting cans and plates and walked into the kitchen. I looked around the living room and gathered up my stuff and put it back in my messenger bag and then followed him into the kitchen.

He was just standing there leaning against the counter. I stopped and we stood there for a moment just looking at each other. This wasn't our first break up. In fact, we had broken-up and gotten back together more times than I could count, all the way back to age 5. Somehow this time it felt more permanent. I slid his ring off of my finger and placed it in his hand. He closed his hand around mine and held my eyes. He pulled me in for a final soft kiss. I left quickly before I changed my mind and promised him everything that I knew would eventually make me miserable.

Big blue was waiting for me at the curb. I stopped at 7-11 and bought 3 pints of Ben & Jerry's before I went back to my apartment. Rex came out to greet me as I walked in, probably hopeful for a crumb of meatball sub or doughnut. But I didn't have anything for him so I dropped a few hamster kibbles in his bowl. He didn't seem too interested in those and went back into his soup can for a nap.

I changed back into my sweats and Joe's sweatshirt. It was too big which was a comfort. I let its long sleeves fall all the way down over my hands and took my ice cream to the couch where the tears started fresh. 1.5 pints later I was less tearful and a little sick to my stomach. I put the rest of my ice cream in the freezer and collapsed back on the couch. I suppose I should get used to this life. I'd just ended a solid relationship with a great guy because I was too afraid to commit. The odds of that coming along again seemed unlikely.


	9. Chapter 9

I had fallen asleep on the couch and I woke up to the sound of someone inside my apartment. "Babe why are you sleeping on your couch?"

I opened my eyes to find Ranger leaning over me. "I must've just fallen asleep. What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I needed to talk to you. When I saw that you had gone home instead of staying at Morelli's, I decided to take my chance. But you look upset, what happened?" His eyes were searching my face for answers.

I didn't want to talk about it with Ranger so I just shook my head and said "I'm just tired. What did you need to talk about?"

He didn't believe me but I could see the decision on his face to let it go. "Seeing you in that dress today bothered me. It made the fact that you were going to be marrying Morelli very real. You had already asked me to step out of your life. When I saw you in that dress it was like I could see you slipping away from me. I saw my whole life without you."

For the second time that night I found myself in the middle of a conversation that I had no idea how to respond to. Ranger carried on before I needed to figure out what to say, "I'd thought before about marrying you, or at least offering you some kind of commitment by sharing my home with you. What surprised me was when I saw you in that dress, it stirred up emotions I didn't know how to handle. I found I wanted to see you wearing a dress like that. But I wanted you wearing it for me."

My head was swimming. "Ranger I don't know if I understand what you are trying to say."

"Babe" was all he said and he kissed me gently at first and then deeper.

When he pulled away I managed to say "That didn't really answer my question."

He smiled and said "I'm saying I know my timing is terrible and you are already engaged to Morelli. And I don't know how it would work with my job and my lifestyle. But I want to spend my life with you. I want to marry you."

I was completely speechless. Out of all the possible things I felt Ranger would say to me that was not one of them.

"Babe" he said, anxiety pressing into his voice. It was not a tone I'd heard in his voice very often. And never when there wasn't a life and death situation.

"I'm not engaged to Morelli." It was the only response I could think of. His hand ran down the length of my arm to my left hand, which was still tucked inside the sleeve of Morelli's sweatshirt I was wearing. He pushed the sleeve up pulling out my hand and ran his thumb over my naked ring finger. His eyes slid back to mine full of question. "We broke up tonight. That's why I came back here. And why I looked upset. I couldn't be the wife he wanted and he couldn't live with the wife I could be."

The smile crept back across his face and he said "His loss is my gain then." He kissed me again, harder this time. This time when he ended it I was breathless. "To be continued" he whispered "you've had a long night and need to get some rest." He scooped me up in his arms and carried me into the bedroom, tucking me in like a child before kissing me gently on the forehead and slipping out of my bedroom. It took a long time for me to fall asleep after that as my head just kept spinning around the thought that Ranger just said he wanted to marry me.

In the morning, I couldn't decide if the midnight conversation with Ranger had really happened or if it was just some realistic dream. When I got out of bed my front door was locked from the inside and I was home alone, but with Ranger that doesn't mean anything. He has skills with locks that don't even seem possible. I needed to tell my mother about calling it off with Morelli, but I didn't want to hear it from her. I got ready as quickly as possible and headed right into the bonds office.

Connie was there alone when I came in. She noticed my missing jewelry right away. I managed to tell her the story without breaking down into tears, but I did eat 3 crullers out of the box on Connie's desk while I was telling it so that kind of helped. I left off the midnight visit from Ranger because I still hadn't decided if that was even real and just told her about the breakup with Morelli.

Lula still hadn't shown up by the time I was done. Connie said she had one new skip but it was a low bond. Lucille Brown, 75, arrested for propositioning a firefighter. Apparently, she thought he was a stripper and started pulling his clothes off and shoving dollar bills into his underwear. She did this in spite of the fact that she was sitting in the lobby of her assisted living facility when she saw him. Vinnie had bailed her out and then she missed her court date. I could bring her in but it was only going to mean $50 to me. My only other option was to tell my mother about ending it with Morelli or going after Jackson on my own, neither of which seemed appealing.

I grabbed the file and headed out to Big Blue to go pick up Ms. Brown. I parked at her assisted living facility and headed inside. There was a crowd of elderly women sitting by the front door. They all started inspecting me as soon as I walked in. None of them were Lucille Brown. I asked for her and one of the old lady snorted "Figures. Everyone wants to see Lucy since they changed her meds and got her libido going again." One of the staff members pointed me in the right direction and I took off. 3 wrong turns later I managed to find her room. The door was held open with a weight, so I stepped inside.

"Do I hear my sweetie?" I heard an old voice call from the bathroom. The door opened to reveal Lucile Brown. All of Lucille Brown. She was pushing a walker but wasn't wearing a single stich of clothing. She caught sight of me and said "You're not Maurice."

"No Ms. Brown, I'm Stephanie Plum. I represent your bail bondsman and you missed your court date. I'm going to need to give you a ride back up to the station so you can set a new date."

"Oh honey" Lucille replied "I don't have time for that. Who knows how much time I have left? Or how long these new meds are going to work? I have to take advantage while my plumbing is still working properly." She looked out the window and saw a small group of old men gathered in a circle. "That's my Maurice right there."

I looked out the window too and saw what the men were gathered around. "That's my car. I bet if you go on a ride with me in that car it would attract the attention of any one of those guys you wanted."

"Honey, if I get into that car I could have all of those guys." she replied, turning around quicker than I thought she was capable of and heading directly to her closet. Just let me throw on a dress and we can be on our way. You will get me bailed back out quickly, right."

I promised her I would call Vinnie before we left to have him meet us down there and made the call while she was getting dressed. Less than 10 minutes later she was flirting her way through the crowd of old men gathered around my car. It only took 20 more minutes to get her into the car and out of the parking lot. Vinnie had been waiting for a bit by the time we arrived. Court was in session, so I told Lucy I'd wait and drive her back to the home in Big Blue and Vinnie went in to post bail. I dropped her back off at the assisted living facility, body receipt in my messenger bag, just in time for lunch. The crowd of men started to make their way back out to admire Big Blue but as soon as Lucy was out the door I floored it out of there and made my way back to the office after a stop off at the deli for a turkey club. I decided I could eat lunch at the office and figure out a new plan for Nathanial Jackson.

Lula had arrived by the time I got back to the office and Connie had filled her in on my news. Her hair was neon pink and she was wearing lime green hot pants for a much smaller woman and a bright white V-neck t-shirt of which she was practically busting out. It should have looked awful, but on Lula it worked. She had woken up that morning feeling that the cluck in a bucket inspiration for her hair had left her and drove straight to her hairdresser for the upgrade we had in front of us. I gave my body receipt for Lucille to Connie and started on my turkey club. I was halfway through when the air in the bonds office changed.

I felt, rather than heard, him approach me. "You're looking better this morning, babe" he said. Reaching his hand out and touching my face. Then lowering his face down and giving me the softest, hottest, most romantic kiss of my life. He stood up and reached in his back pocket producing a pair of handcuffs. "These are yours from Dupont. Tank held onto them yesterday after he delivered him to the station for you but I wanted to make sure you got them back." His eyes held mine for a second longer than necessary before he gave me another quick kiss and turned and walked back out of the building.

"I guess he heard the news already" Lula chimed in from across the office. "But I have to say, if you are going to end your engagement to a gorgeous guy like Morelli, I think getting those kinds of kisses from Ranger would improve your day."

I was starting to think the midnight visit had really happened. But I still had no idea what to do about it. Ranger wanted to marry me? Or did he just not want me to marry someone else? Suddenly, I lost my appetite for my lunch and put the rest of the sandwich back in the box.


	10. Chapter 10

I needed to focus on something else, so I suggested making another attempt at Nathanial Jackson. Lula said that by this time of day he was probably at the bar. This would make it slightly easier, because we wouldn't have 4 flights of stairs to contend with, but also slightly more difficult in that he would be surrounded by other people. He already knew what we looked like, so we couldn't try to bait him out of the bar.

We decided to just drive around and see if we could find him. Lula said Big Blue didn't work with her new look so we took her Firebird. I looked in his file to see what he drove and we headed off to the scope out the bars Lula knew him to frequent. We had no luck at the first two, but when I drove by the third he was standing by the front door having a cigarette. Doesn't matter how low rent the bar is or how dangerous a person you are, you still can't smoke inside in Trenton.

We drove past and started to circle around. He had been outside with one other person when we drove by. This was better luck than I had hoped for. If we could apprehend him quietly, maybe his friends inside the bar wouldn't come out to look for him until we were long gone.

I had Lula stay in the car to act as the getaway driver. I got out, stun gun in hand, pepper spray in my front pocket, and my newly returned handcuffs in my back pocket. I walked up behind them as quietly as I could, pressed my stun gun to his friend, and pushed the button. The friend went down in a puddle and Nathanial turned and saw me.

He started to yell and I pressed my stun gun to his side and pressed the button. Nothing, the battery had died after I hit his friend. He hit my arm away and started yelling. "Crazy bounty hunter bitch" I fumbled to get my pepper spray out of my pocket but was too slow, he was already on me. "I'm going to teach you a lesson bitch" he sneered in my face. He shoved me up against the wall and I felt his hand around my throat. I closed my eyes. Hoping that Lula was still there and that she was paying attention and could come up with some way to help when Nathanial's hand disappeared from my throat.

I opened my eyes to find Nathanial face down on the ground. Ranger's knee on his neck while he secured the handcuffs in place. Tank walked over and pulled Nathanial to his feet while Ranger removed 2 guns and 3 knives from various hiding places on his body. Lula had gotten out of the car and walked over while Ranger and Tank were in the process of their takedown. I heard the door to the bar open at one point, but Ranger just gave whoever it was a look and the door shut and no one else tried to open it for the remainder of time we were there.

Once Nathanial was secured and de-armed, Ranger walked over to me. "Babe" he said touching my throat softly. I was sure it was already red and would be bruised in a few hours.

"I'm ok" I whispered.

"Where was your gun?" was his only reply. I didn't answer because I knew he wasn't really asking. He turned and said "Tank, get this guy into your car and drive him to the station. I'll follow with Stephanie in my car. Lula, you can go home." It wasn't a question and everyone just turned and walked to their assigned cars.

Ranger was silent for the first several minutes of the drive. We were in his 911 Turbo, which had no engine noise the passenger cabin and he had the radio off, so the only noise in the entire car was my breathing. "What were you thinking?" he finally said.

"I was just thinking I'd have better luck when he was out of his apartment and I didn't have to figure out how to get him downstairs." I explained.

"I get that part. I meant, what were you thinking going after a skip who already shot at you and burned up your car with only a half-charged stun gun" his voice was level but I knew that was practiced.

"How did you know about the shooting? And the car?" I asked because that had occurred during our "no contact" phase.

"Babe, I told you I wasn't going to stop tracking you, but I would keep my distance. When I saw that you were going into that neighborhood on Stark, I went to check on you. I got there just in time to see some guy shooting at you, starting a fire, and watching you and Lula run from your S-10 while it was engulfed in flames. I saw you make a call and it wasn't to me, so I just hung back and kept an eye on you until Morelli showed up."

"You were in my parking lot that night too" I stated.

He nodded "Not me personally, but I sent a guy you didn't know in a car you hadn't seen to keep watch over you, just in case."

My voice was practically a whisper when I said "so last night really happened? That wasn't just a dream?" His only answer was to reach over and grab my hand, holding on to it for the rest of the drive.

Ranger waited in the car while I went in to give the booking agent my apprehension paperwork and get my body receipt. I didn't see Morelli while I was there but I'm sure it wouldn't be long before he heard that Rangeman had helped me with another skip.

Ranger drove me back over to the bonds office without another word, but he did reclaim my hand when I got back into the car to leave the station. Once we got back to the office he leaned over and kissed me gently on the throat, it was already tender where Nathanial Jackson had held me, and said "See you later babe."

I gave went in and Connie my body receipt and she wrote me a check. She hadn't seen Lula so I imagined she went home after Ranger dismissed her. Between this check and the one for Dupont, I'd be able to pay my rent and get a new car. Not a great new car, but at least I'd be able to quit driving Big Blue. I decided I'd have Lula take me car shopping in the morning and I'd return Big Blue tonight, which would have the added benefit of bumming dinner off my mom. I still needed to tell her about the big breakup with Joe.


	11. Chapter 11

I pulled up at 5:50pm, plenty of time for dinner. There was a car I didn't recognize parked in front of my parent's house. I pulled Big Blue all the way into the garage. I would have my dad drive me home and then have Lula pick me up tomorrow so I wouldn't be needing it anymore.

There were three extra people sitting in the living room with my dad when I came in. My mother and grandma were in the kitchen finishing up dinner. Grandma Mazur came out to say hello. "You've gone viral!" She announced as she walked out of the kitchen. "The phone has been ringing off the hook with people who want an inside scoop and I've been able to give them all of the details being as I was right there when it happened."

"Stephanie, it's so good to see you again" said one of the people sitting in the living room with my dad, a woman who looked about my age, and did look familiar. The other two people, a man and woman, both about my parents age, stood as the younger woman came over to give me a hug.

After she released me from a brief hug I said "I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you."

"Oh goodness! I'm so sorry! Jenny Torrezi" she said gesturing to herself.  
As soon as she said her name I recognized her. "Wow Jenny! You moved away in high school, before graduation, what brought you back?"

"I grew up in the Burg. This is where my heart is. I never wanted to leave. My Dad's company closed their Trenton office and he had the option to transfer to Philadelphia or go on unemployment. He didn't want to risk unemployment, so off we moved to Philadelphia. I finished high school there and went to college. I dated a few guys but it never really worked out. I was single and working a dead-end job I hated. My dad retired and my parents were moving back to their house in the Burg. They hadn't sold it because they had always planned on coming back. I quit my job and came with them. We all moved back into the old house earlier this week."

The older woman walked over and gave me a hug "I ran into Helen at the grocery store this morning and she was so happy we were back. We were always close before Frank and I moved. She invited all of us over for dinner to celebrate."

I could hardly believe that Jenny was back. She and I had been the best of friends in middle school and I cried for days when she moved. We had promised to stay in touch but after a few letters we drifted apart. My mom came out of the kitchen and started to set another place at the table for me. I saw that she had brought out two additional place settings and quickly told her "Just me tonight, Mom."

"I thought since you were here that Joe would probably be coming by also. Are you just going to take him leftovers then?" she said, efficiently adding just one place to the table and heading back to the kitchen with the other place setting.

I followed her into the kitchen knowing this conversation was inevitable. "We broke up again. I think this time it's for good." I said, showing her my naked left hand.

I saw her eyes flit to the cupboard over the fridge where she keeps her whiskey. "Was it because of the stunt yesterday at the dress shop? It isn't because of that dangerous looking guy, is it? I don't see why you are willing to let this job ruin your chance at happiness with Joe."

"It wasn't the incident at the dress shop, Mom. And it isn't because of Ranger" not entirely, at least, I thought to myself "We just have different ideas of what we want out of life and it isn't something we were going to be able to agree on, or compromise on."

"You'll take him some leftovers. You can talk then. Don't worry honey, you can work this out." She patted my hand encouragingly and then started carrying food out to the table.

After we all got seated Mrs Torrezi said "Stephanie, you mom was telling us that congratulations are in order. She said you just got engaged to Joe Morelli."

I forced a smile and said, "I appreciated the thoughts, but unfortunately we just ended that engagement last night." This made my mother take a long drink of her 'tea'.  
Jenny chimed in "I couldn't believe you were ever really engaged to him. I knew you couldn't be that desperate. That guy is a pig. All of the Morelli guys are pigs."

"That may be true about all of the other Morelli men, but not Joseph." My mother corrected her.

"All I know is that in high school, if you spent more than 5 minutes alone with Joe Morelli he was going to have your pants off and be out the door before you even realized what had happened. I think you probably dodged a bullet getting out of that one" Jenny smirked knowingly.

My mother took another long drink of her 'tea' and added "That may have been true of him in high school but that was a long time ago. He is a different man now. He has a house and a respectable job and he has always been there for Stephanie. She could do a lot worse."

Not wanting to spend any more time discussing Morelli, I promptly changed the subject and asked Jenny all about her life in Philadelphia and filled her in on the what had happened to all of the people she remembered from childhood.

After dinner, Jenny offered to drive me home. Mr. and Mrs Torrezi said it was a beautiful evening and they wanted to walk the few blocks home. My mother pressed a bag of leftovers into my hands and told me to take them to Joe. I thought about just taking the leftovers home with me, but I did want to see him so I decided to drop them off. Jenny pulled to a stop in front of his house and smiled.

"This is not what I would have expected for Joe Morelli." She said looking at the very traditional house.

"He inherited it from his Aunt Rose a few years ago, but now it suits him pretty well." I said as we both got out of the car. His car was in the drive, so I knew he was home. I was really hoping he was alone. I didn't think I could take seeing him with someone else right now.

I went up to his front door and knocked. I still had my key, but given the change in our relationship I decided not to use it. He answered the door and said "Cupcake, I wasn't expecting to see you." He glanced over at Jenny with question in his eyes.

I handed him the bag of leftovers and told him that my mother had sent them for him and I explained who Jenny was and that she was driving me back to my apartment. I could see the recognition flash in his eyes when I said her name and tried not to fault him too much for the brief scan his eyes gave her body.

We stood there awkwardly for a minute before I said "I just wanted to drop those off and check in on you. How are you doing?"

"I can't talk about this with you, Cupcake" his eyes betraying more hurt than I was prepared to deal with.

"I still care about you" I implored.

He shook his head and said "You care about me so much that the day after you give my ring back you are off with him again. Just go, Cupcake. And tell you mom I said thanks, but don't stop by again." With that he turned and shut the door in my face.

"What was that about?" Jenny asked as we headed back to the car.

"Long story" was all I could say and she didn't press it any further. We talked as she drove me back to my apartment. She had only been in Trenton for a few days. We made plans to go to the mall the next day to catch up more.

I walked into my apartment and locked the door behind me. I said hi to Rex and then laid down on my bed. I couldn't believe my life. Listening to my mom tonight talk up Morelli had started playing on my doubts. He really was a great guy. Maybe I could just have the life that Joe and my mom and everyone else wants me to have. Even if the thought of that life makes me break out in a cold sweat. I laid there thinking long enough that I fell asleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night to find Ranger sitting on the edge of my bed holding my left hand. He saw my eyes open and said "I saw you went to Morelli's tonight. I was just checking" as he ran his thumb over my still naked left ring finger. He then lifted my hand to his lips, placed a brief kiss on my hand, and left without saying another word.


	12. Chapter 12

My apartment was empty when I got up in the morning. I made a cup of coffee and had a peanut butter and olive sandwich. I gave a corner to Rex which made his whiskers practically vibrate with happiness. I called Lula and she had just got to the office. She said Connie had two new skips but both were low bonds and not priorities, so I could do them later. I asked her to take me car shopping and she said she would pick me up in an hour. I took a quick shower and dressed in my usual uniform of jeans and a t-shirt. The weather looked a little cloudy, so I added a fitted, zippered jacket. I dried my hair and tamed my curls the best I could and swiped on a little mascara. I was gathering my stuff up to put in my messenger bag when I saw a set of car keys in the dish I kept by my front door.

I had originally bought the dish after seeing one in Ranger's apartment and I had intended to put my keys there when I came in, preventing my mad search of the entire apartment every morning to find my missing keys. But generally, I forget to use it and it just sits there empty. I picked up the keys trying to remember what they might belong to. The keys to my S-10 were still in my messenger bag. I had just seen them and thought about throwing them away. I remembered putting the keys to Big Blue back in my parent's drawer last night, and these keys were too new for Big Blue anyway. I remembered Ranger's brief visit in the middle of the night. I walked over to the window and looked out into the parking lot. There was a brand new black Mercedes parked in the lot. I pressed the button on the key fob and the lights flashed.

I sent a text to Ranger that said "Thanks for the car. You didn't have to do that."

I got an immediate reply that just said "babe"

I text Lula and let her know that car shopping was off and asked her if she wanted to meet me at the mall. She said that sounded even better and she would meet me in the shoe department of Macy's in 15 minutes. I text Jenny to let her know that my morning was free now and I was headed over to the mall early if she wanted to meet me there and she replied and said she would be there soon.

Lula was already trying on shoes when I got to the mall. She was dressed in her typical outfit of too small, too tight, spandex and she was trying on stilettos with at least a 4 in heel that did not look like they were going to be able to support what was being asked of them.

I found a pair of sparkly silver heels that would look perfect with my red dress. Since I didn't need to buy a car, I had a little extra money and decided to splurge on them. Jenny met up with us when we were on our second store and she made fast friends with Lula. Spending time with Jenny was easy and we were able to pick it up right where we had left off in high school.

I told her about Joe and Ranger. Lula filled her in on some of our various adventures. She laughed and said she was impressed with what a badass I had become since she left. I told her we were more lucky than badass.

We headed to the food court for lunch and she told us about the guys she dated back in Philly. She said they wanted too much out of her. She talked about how in the Burg guys expected that you would work until you got married but then they took pride in supporting their family. She said she wanted to find a guy who would find her staying home as his accomplishment but all the guys she dated in Philly had just said they would "see" if they could "manage" for her to stop working or that they could give it a "trial." "But they still wanted me to cook and clean and take care of them, in spite of the fact that I was working the same hours they were and making almost the same amount of money. I always knew I wanted to have the traditional Burg life. I want to stay home and raise kids and volunteer for the PTA."

I took that opportunity to explain exactly what had gone wrong in my relationship with Joe. I still hadn't told anyone about Ranger's midnight confession the night Joe and I had broken-up. I wanted to talk more about it with him before I told anyone.

Jenny listened to everything I said about Joe and said "It sounds like your mom is right and he has changed a lot since high school. But I can tell by the way you talk about your job and your life now that you love it. I can see that you aren't ready to give it up for anyone." She paused for a moment to chew a bite of her Caesar salad and then continued "I know I don't know you well anymore. But back when we were kids we were really good friends. And even back then I don't think you were ever going to be satisfied with a traditional Burg life. Looking at you now, I think you found the life you were always meant to have."

Her input and my extra-large slice of double pepperoni, along with my new shoes, had me in a much better mood by the time we left. Jenny was headed back to her parent's house and Lula and I went into the office.

I showed Connie my new shoes and they both raved over the Mercedes. Her and Lula decided this was Ranger making a move, since I ended things with Morelli. I tried to point out all of the cars he had given me in the past, with no expectations attached to them. "That man wants you" Lula insisted.

"He's like the car fairy" Connie said. "He breaks into your house in the middle of the night and leaves you a Mercedes."

Vinnie came out of his office then and ranted about how I wasn't going to find any of the skips just sitting in the office chatting and how if none of us wanted to work, he would fire us all and replace us. We all knew this was an idle threat because he hadn't had any luck finding a new bounty hunter since Ranger left, Connie was the only office manager he had ever found that could tolerate him, and he was a little afraid of Lula. But, I took the new files from Connie anyway and looked through them.

Both files were pretty unremarkable. Joe Cottrell was an 18-year-old that had been arrested for shoplifting and Mary Devine was a 52-year-old who was arrested for her 3rd DUI. Both missed their court dates yesterday and both should be easy to bring back in. Based on the file the 18-year-old was a senior in high school, the same high school I graduated from. Looking at the clock, I realized that school should be letting out soon. Lula wanted to get her new purchases home and I didn't expect to need any backup so I headed out in my new Mercedes alone.

I got to the school about 10 minutes before the final bell and parked in the student section. When students started streaming out I watched for Cottrell. He walked right in front of my car with his head down. I got out of my car and followed him. Before he got into his car I called out to him and he stopped and turned around. He looked at me with a look of panic and glanced toward his car.

"I'm Stephanie Plum, I represent you bond agency. You missed your court date so I'm here to help you get a new one." I said.

The panic grew on his face and he said "I don't know what you are talking about. I don't have a bond agency or a court date." He was walking backwards as quickly as he could toward his car.

I decided to play the biggest card I had on an 18-year-old. "We can either handle this quickly and quietly ourselves, or I can go to your house and get your parents involved."

He stopped in his tracks when I said I would go to his house. "You can't do that!" he exclaimed. "My parents, my parents wouldn't understand. That's why I missed court. My parents decided to pull me out of school yesterday to go look at colleges. They wouldn't listen when I told them that yesterday was a bad day. They looked at all of my classes online and said I didn't have any major assignments or tests and I could go. They don't know I was arrested. I couldn't tell them about court."

I pulled out my phone and text Connie to see if her or Vinnie could be at the courthouse in a half-hour and she sent back a thumbs-up emoji. "We can get you bonded out again right away. I can't promise your parents won't find out, but I'm pretty sure we can get you home for dinner."

The relief was clear on his face. "Can we go right now? I've been googling what happens when you miss court and I don't want to be a felon." I didn't even bother with the handcuffs as I walked him back to my car and got him settled into the front seat. Vinnie was waiting at the booking desk when I arrived. The booking agent gave me my body receipt and Vinnie and Cottrell went back to see the arraignment judge to get a new bond set and new court date scheduled.


	13. Chapter 13

It was still barely 4pm so I looked at my other file. Mary Devine appeared to have a serious alcohol problem. She had just been arrested for her 3rd DUI, but she had a host of other alcohol related charges. It looked like she frequently got arrested at a bar called, of all things, Joe's. I figured she was either sleeping off a binge at home or would be posted up on a bar stool at Joe's.

I drove by her house first. I knocked on the door but no answer. I peeked in the windows and saw no movement. It didn't look like someone was hiding. It just looked like no one was home. I'm not very good at busting down doors so I decided if she was hiding she could get away with it for today.

My next stop was Joe's. It was a hole in the wall bar that looked like it hadn't been updated in 30 years or cleaned in the last 10 years. I saw Mary right away, exactly where I expected her to be, propped up on a stool at the bar. I went over and sat down next to her. She looked at me and said "Bout time you showed up." Her words were all slurred.

"You've been expecting me" I said surprised.

"Damn right. I've been waiting on you all day. I could wait at home any longer so I came down here."

I was confused. I'd brought in a few drunks in the past and usually they had forgotten entirely about being arrested and missed court because they had no clue they were supposed to be there. Generally, they aren't expecting me to show up.

The bartender walked down to our corner of the bar and said to me "You'll have to excuse her. Her daughter died about 10 years ago. She was waiting for her to come home and her daughter was killed in an accident. She's been waiting for her ever since. She doesn't even know who you are. She thinks all women about your age are her daughter." He tried to take my order but I put him off.

It was one of the saddest stories I'd ever heard. I flipped back through her electronic file Connie had sent to my phone. All of her charges started about 10 years ago. She was clearly not coping with her loss and was drinking to cover it up. I felt badly for her but not taking her in wouldn't help anything. She was too drunk to talk to now, but maybe the judge could send her for treatment instead of jail. I hopped off my stool and said to Mary "I'm sorry I kept you waiting but I'm here now. Are you ready to go?"

"Keep me waiting all day and now you're in a hurry" she said to me taking another long drink out of her glass.

"I'm sorry. I just got held up and now I want to get to our plans. I'll make it up to you, can we please go?"

She looked at me and drained her drink in one swallow. "Fine, let's get moving." I put a twenty down on the counter to cover her drinks and walked her out to my car. I got her settled in the passenger seat and headed down to the station. Court was going to be closed for the night, so she would have to sleep it off in a cell tonight. But maybe she would be sober when she got in front of the judge tomorrow. She was passed out before we had driven a mile and was still passed out when I parked at the station. I went inside to have the booking agent come out and help me get her out of the car.

He got her settled onto a cot and came back out to process my paperwork. I told him what I had learned and asked him to put in a word with the judge that maybe treatment would be a better option than jail for Mary. He promised me he would mention it and I started out the door.

I saw Morelli leaning up against the driver side door of my new car. He saw me approach and met me halfway. "I'm starting to get a clearer picture of how things really are."

"Joe, don't say that. You're reading into things all wrong."

He shook his head at me "You're making a mistake Cupcake, and by the time you figure it out, it will be too late. Do you even know where he gets these cars?"

"I know you don't trust him but I do. And he has nothing to do with why we broke-up." I insisted.

"You keep saying that, but every time I turn around he's there and he's offering you something that is too good to possibly turn down. Just be careful. I don't want to see you end up hurt." He kissed me gently on the lips and then walked back into the station.

I drove back home and finished off the ice cream in my freezer for dinner. I had two beers with the ice cream, and since I'm a lightweight that meant I was pretty drunk and put myself to bed. I woke up the next morning having slept through the night with no visitors. At least, none that I woke up for.

I got up and quickly dressed and showered and headed into the office to turn in my body receipt for Mary. Jenny called me while I was driving. My new car had Bluetooth and it had already been paired with my cell phone so I was able to take the call through my car. She told me that she had met some of her other friends from high school for drinks last night at Pino's and Joe had come in. She said he looked upset so she went to talk to him. He had been upset about the conversation with me, but after a few drinks he was feeling better. She told me before one of his cop friends drove him home he had asked for her number and asked her to get dinner. "Steph, I know you just broke-up and I don't want to affect our friendship, but you were right. He is such a different guy than he was back then. I think he is absolutely perfect and I don't want to pass on such a great guy if it would be ok. Do you think it would be ok? Would you be ok if I went out to dinner with him?"

It made me sick to my stomach to think about Joe moving on so quickly. But as I thought about it, Jenny and Joe did make a lot of sense. I agreed they would probably be great together and gave her my blessing on going out with him. As long as she didn't try to get me on a double date with them.

Connie wrote my check and said she had one new file for me and I told her I was taking the rest of the day off to deal with my personal life. I took the file but I didn't even open it. I was sitting in my new Mercedes trying to figure out where to go and what to do.

The conversation with Joe last night and with Jenny this morning had thrown me. I needed to figure out where my life was going. Which meant I needed to figure out what Ranger meant. I needed to talk to Ranger.

I thought about just driving over and walking into his office. Even if he wasn't there he would see that I was there and he would show up soon enough. But, I decided if I was going to get the man of mystery to talk it needed to be on his terms. I sent him a text that said "we need to talk."

His response was not instant. I was starting to think he was ignoring my request when about 5 minutes later I got a text back that said "Dinner tonight. My place. Wear the red dress." I exhaled a breath I wasn't aware I was holding. That gave me some time to prepare. I drove back to my apartment to figure out exactly what I wanted to say and to get dressed.


	14. Chapter 14

Preparing for dinner looked a lot like mindlessly watching daytime TV eating cheese puffs. That is how I do my best thinking though. I decided what I really needed to know was what he meant when he said he wanted to marry me. All he has ever told me was that he would never have a serious relationship and his lifestyle wasn't conducive to commitment. My relationship with Joe ended on its own accord, but before I could move on I needed to know what he meant. I couldn't see myself settling for anyone else, no matter how perfect they seemed, if Ranger was an option. Because that is what it would be, settling. Ranger had his issues, sure, but all other men paled in comparison to him.

He hadn't given me a time, but I knew he generally worked late and had Ella bring dinner up at 7:30pm. I planned to arrive around 7:00pm. I got in the shower at 5:00pm to wash off the cheese puff dust and shave. I spent a full hour trying to get my hair and makeup perfect. I was a little nervous so I kept applying mascara. The more mascara the more confidence, right? Once I was out of body parts to apply a beauty product to, I went into my room to get dressed.

I pulled the red dress out of the closet slipped it on. I was putting on my new silver shoes when I remembered Joe had requested I wear this same dress for dinner at his house and I refused. Ranger suggested it and I'm wearing it. I added one final spritz of perfume and one last coat of mascara, said goodnight to Rex, and headed out the door.

I pulled up to the gate and reached in my messenger bag for my Rangeman key fob. I pressed the button to allow me access to the garage and the gate opened. I parked in one of Ranger's spots and walked over to the elevator. I pressed another button on my fob and the elevator started up to the top floor. I waved at the camera to say hi to whoever was on security that night. I stepped off on floor 7 and walked over to the door to Ranger's apartment. I knew he knew I was here, he would've known the moment I pulled up to the gate. Still, it took me a minute standing in the hall to gather my courage to walk in that door.

I finally told myself I was being ridiculous and opened the door. Ranger was walking out of the office in his apartment when I let myself in. "Babe" he said smiling at me, taking in my whole outfit. Watching his reaction, I was very glad I had decided on the red dress. "Ella hasn't brought dinner up yet. I was starting to wonder if you planned on waiting in the hall."

I laughed and said "Just took a minute to gather up my nerve."

"Nothing to be nervous about" he said taking my chin in his hand and kissing me lightly on the lips. The kiss started to deepen and he pulled away. "We'd better not do too much of that or we won't end up talking." He walked into the kitchen and I followed. He picked up a bottle of wine he had left on the counter and poured it into the two waiting glasses. He handed me one and leaned back against the counter. "You said you wanted to talk."

I took a sip from my glass. "I said we needed to talk. That means you too." He just nodded so I continued. "I need to know if you meant what you said that night."

"Babe, you should know by now that I never say things I don't mean."

"Ok, but what does it mean? Was it an ego thing? That you didn't want to lose me to Morelli? Or you want to me to stay available for your entertainment?" I asked.

"I've told you before that I love you." He replied.

"And you've told me repeatedly that nothing could ever come of it because you were never going to have a serious relationship." I retorted.

He set down his untouched wine glass and walked around the counter to me. He ran his hands down my arms. "If this was just about my ego or my entertainment, I would've let you marry Morelli. Your happiness will always mean more to me than mine." He took the wine glass out of my hand, set it on the counter, and wrapped his arms around me. "You are a surprising woman and I never anticipated having someone like you in my life. But now that I have you in my life, I don't ever want to let you go. When I said I wanted to marry you, I meant that I want to have you here with me, every day, for the rest of my life."

I was silent as I stared into his face, trying to process what he was saying.

"It's your turn to talk now babe"

"I just don't have any idea what to say to that" I responded, my breath practically a whisper.

"You could tell me if that is something you'd want too" he replied with a tinge of stress in his voice.

Looking right into his eyes I confessed "It's something I've always been afraid to let myself want. You've always made it so clear that it wasn't an option that I couldn't even let myself fantasize about it. Because I knew if I ever let it enter my mind as a possibility I'd never be able to let it go. I didn't want to spend my entire life waiting for you, if it was never going to happen. But, if you are telling me that you want me too, then yes, this is what I want. But if you aren't sure about this, you have to tell me. I can't stay in limbo with you forever."

A rare smile crept across Ranger's face as I spoke. The stress that had been clouding face since I got to his apartment had evaporated. He kissed me quickly and left the kitchen. I could hear him in the living room moving something. I sipped my wine while I waited for him to return. The noises from the living room stopped and I expected him to come back into the kitchen. Instead, I heard Frank Sinatra start singing. Curious, I left the kitchen and headed into the living room.

I hadn't even glanced that way when I first entered the apartment, so I'm not sure what it looked like then. But now, it was filled with roses. Ranger was standing in the middle of the living room as I slowly entered, taking it all in. "What is all this?" I asked when I finally stood in front of him.

He took both of my hands in his and said "Babe" before he slowly lowered to one knee. I couldn't breathe as I figured out what was happening. "You are a remarkable woman. You are beautiful, smart, brave, determined, and caring. I don't want to spend a single day of my life without you. I want you to make me this happy for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?" He let go of one hand and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box. He opened it to reveal a beautiful antique ring. The center diamond wasn't extravagant but the detailed work surrounding the ring was amazing.

Without a moment of hesitation, I said "yes, yes of course I will, yes!" He slid the ring onto my finger and then stood pulling me into him and kissing me. This time he didn't pull away and he let the kiss deepen. My hands were under his shirt and he was kissing his way down my neck. One of his hands had slid down to my hip and the other was on my breast. Suddenly, my entire body tensed as I remembered that Ella would be bringing dinner up and we were very much standing where she would see.

"What's wrong?" he asked, pausing his gentle kisses along my throat. The bruise I expected hadn't shown itself but it was still tender where Nathanial had held me.

"Ella is bringing dinner" I said.

He resumed his kisses and told me "When I told her to prepare dinner for two I also asked her to hold it and that I would call when we were ready."

"Oh" I breathed as a respond. He moved his lips to my ear and again I said "ooohh."

"If you're hungry, I can call her right now" he teasingly whispered in my ear.

"Not in the least" I said, turning my head and finding his lips with my own. Reaching around me he found the zipper for my dress and pulled it down. He pushed the straps off my shoulders and let the dress puddle at my feet.

I reached down to start to take off my shoes and he stopped me. "Leave the shoes. I like them" he said.

"I thought you liked the dress too" I teased.

"I like what's under the dress better" he replied. He then scooped me up and carried me into the bedroom, setting me down on the bed. He started to undress, which is generally the most captivating site I could see. But tonight, I was distracted staring at the ring on my hand. He touched my hand softly "If you want something different, I'll buy you anything you want."

I shook my head "This is the most beautiful ring I've ever seen in my entire life. It's so delicate and detailed. It's amazing."

His hand found my face as he smiled again and said "It was my grandmothers. She gave it to my years ago, and told me to hold onto it until I found the right woman. I told her to give it to another one of her grandchildren because I would never use it. She told me she was giving it to me and she didn't care if I held onto it for 50 years, she wanted me to have it."

"I'm glad she insisted" I said as he kissed me again.


	15. Chapter 15

It was two hours before Ranger called down to have Ella bring up dinner. I went into Ranger's closet to borrow a t-shirt and was touched to see a small section of women's clothing. He walked in behind me while I was standing there. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the side of my head, "I was really counting on you saying yes." He pulled on a pair of basketball shorts and shirt and left the closet. I found a pair of yoga pants and t-shirt and followed him out. Ella was just setting down dinner when I walked out of the bedroom. Her eyes lit on the ring on my finger and then went from my face to Rangers. He just thanked her for dinner and told her she could wait until tomorrow to collect the dishes.

After we finished dinner, which was amazing. We went back into the bedroom where I tried to show Ranger exactly how happy he had made me. I woke the next morning to find Ranger fully dressed for work sitting down next to me on to the bed. "What are your plans for today?" he asked me.

"I have one skip I need to work on. And I need to go talk to my mother." I told him.

"Anything you need help with?" he asked.

"The skip? I'm not so sure, I haven't even opened the file yet. My mother? Yes, I probably need backup for that one." I told him with a smile.

"Call me if you need help with the skip. I'll be at your parents for dinner." He kissed me and then left the room.

I rolled over in Ranger's amazing sheets and could not believe how amazing last night had been. I dozed off for a few more hours and then took a long shower using his amazing shower gel. The closet only held black Rangeman style clothes, black yoga pants, and black t-shirts. I was guessing when Ranger told Ella to buy clothing he didn't give her permission to buy colors. I put on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt and found a blow dryer in Ranger's bathroom along with a small stock of cosmetics. Somehow, he got most of the same products I use at home. I finished getting ready and couldn't decide what to do next.

If I went to the office or even just ran into someone I knew they would see the ring and my mother would get a call. I really needed to tell my mom before I saw anyone else. I grabbed my stuff and went down to the 5th floor. I said hi to Hector at the security desk as I walked by, heading to Ranger's office. He hung up the phone as I walked in. "Babe" he said by way of greeting.

"I have a problem" I said. His eyebrows raised as his response, so I continued "If I go to work or anywhere wearing this ring, my mother will hear about it in about 2 seconds. If someone tells my mother I got engaged before I tell her, I'm dead."

He nodded considering the problem. "Let's go" he said, standing up and walking around his desk.

"Go where?" I asked.

"Your parent's house. You can tell your mother and then you can go about your day. I have business on the other side of town in about an hour, so we will have to drive separate." He grabbed his keys and looked at me.

"Let's go" I said.

I pulled up in front of my parents' house and saw Grandma Mazur watching out the front door. Ranger parked right behind me in his Porsche Cayenne. He got out of his car right away and walked toward mine. I got out and met him on the sidewalk. I saw his eyes cut to Grandma in the doorway and he leaned in and said "Don't let her touch me."

"I'll try" I said, kissing him on the cheek.

"This is a surprise" my mother said as we walked in the front door. She had been in the kitchen and I could smell chocolate cake.

"Did you bring your gun?" Grandma asked Ranger. He looked at me.

"No guns, we are here on a social call" I told Grandma, although I figured Ranger had at least one if not two guns strapped to him somewhere.

"What do you mean social call?" my mother asked looking suspiciously at Ranger.

Ranger turned and faced my mother. "Helen, I've been in love with your daughter for a long time. Recently, I came to realize everything that she means to me. Last night I asked her to spend her life with me and she said yes."

My mother cut her eyes to me and I beamed and showed her my new ring. "Stephanie, this is gorgeous. But are you sure? It wasn't that long ago you came by to tell me you were engaged to Joseph."

"Mom I know this seems quick, but I'm more sure about this than I've ever been before about anything." I assured her.

"I can see you've made up your mind on this" she replied.

Ranger excused himself to get to his meeting and said he would be back for dinner.

After his car, had pulled away, she looked at me and said "Isn't this awfully sudden, Stephanie? I just don't see how you can be so sure about marrying him when a few days ago you were engaged to someone else."

"I never should have said yes to Joe. He's a great guy but he just isn't right for me. Ranger knows exactly who I am and accepts that. He doesn't want to change anything about me. He loves me exactly the way I am and I love him too. He doesn't want me to quit my job and stay home cleaning up and making him dinner. You know I'm a hopeless housekeeper and cook. He has a great housekeeper and cook already. The only reason he wants me is because he cares about me. He makes me happy." I said, trying to get my mother to see what I saw when I looked at him.

She considered this for a moment and then said "I guess we have to get back to wedding planning. I'm sure we've lost the ballroom but I think if we move quickly we can still do better than the VFW." I promised her we could talk more about plans at dinner and left for work.

I was more excited to show off my new bling at work. I was practically vibrating with excitement when I ran through the door. Connie and Lula were in a deep discussion about something that happened on some TV show last night but they stopped and looked at me standing there, taking in my all black outfit.

"Girl, your look like you're going to burst." Lula observed.

I couldn't even figure out how to say the words so I just stuck my hand out. They saw the ring and simultaneously screamed. "Is that from Ranger?" said Connie at the exact same time Lula said "I knew he was into you!"

I nodded and said "He asked me last night. I can't believe it. But I'm going to marry Ranger!"

They asked for details and I gave them the gist. But I kept most of the details to myself. Last night had felt so intensely personal that I didn't want to share it.

Vinnie came in and saw us all talking and Lula told him "Stephanie's going to marry Ranger." I flashed him the new ring on my finger and he looked at it.

"Does this mean you are going to quit?" He asked.

"Nope" I said "Still no plans to quit."

"Then get to work" he said walking into his office and closing the door. Connie said nothing new had come in so there was just the one file I had from yesterday that I hadn't opened.

I pulled the file out of my messenger bag and took a look. It was a relatively low bond. Vinnie had put up $2500 for William "Billie" Carver, which meant I would get $250 for bringing him in. On the bright side, low bonds generally weren't too dangerous. Glancing through his file, I saw I'd picked him up before. Last time he had missed court because he was living on a part of Stark where buses didn't run and cabs wouldn't go and he had no way of making it to court. He had been more than willing to go with me to get back in the system and I had picked him up for his next court date to make sure he made it. His address appeared unchanged.

Lula said she would ride along as backup, which I was pretty sure I wouldn't need for the skip but I may need for the neighborhood. Of course, she wanted to ride in my shiny new Mercedes.

"After we pick this guy up we should stop off for a celebratory bucket of chicken." She said.

"Celebratory fried chicken?" I asked her.

"Yeah, there is no better way to celebrate an engagement then over a bucket of chicken. And given this is your second engagement we probably should get fries and cake too." Lula continued thoughtfully.

I was a little hungry, so I agreed to the fried chicken celebration. I drove further and further down Stark and was well into the burned-out building and crack house section before I pulled over to stop in front of the building. It fit the neighborhood and was directly across from a liquor store. I expected this to go exactly as it had last time, so I left Lula to guard the car. She pulled her gun out of her purse and said she would protect it. I made her promise not to shoot anyone before I left.

I made my way into the building and up to Billie's apartment. I made sure I had my stun gun, pepper spray, and handcuffs handy, but didn't expect to need them. I knocked on the door and he shouted through the door "Who is it?"

"Stephanie Plum" I shouted back "I'm here to give you a ride to court."

He opened the door and looked at me. "Would've been handier if you had shown up a few days ago to drive me in before I missed it."

"Sorry Billie" I said "I don't know about anyone's court dates until they miss them. If you had called and asked I would've picked you up."

"Your boss knew. He could've told you." Billie grumbled as he walked into the hallway and started locking up his apartment.

I handed him my card and told him to call me when he was out again and let me know when he had court and I would give him a ride and we headed down to my car. We walked out of the building but my car wasn't parked in front. I looked up and down the street and didn't see it anywhere.

"You didn't leave your car unattended out here did you" Billie asked me.

"No" I replied. "I left it supervised but it's gone anyway." Just then I saw Lula making her way out of the liquor store with a bag in her hand.

"Lula what are you doing?" I shouted across the street. She hustled back across the street as quickly as she could in her platform pumps and miniskirt.

"I was waiting like you asked and I remembered that this store carries my favorite brand of liquor. They keep in in the back in their special section so you only have to pay half price. I ran in to pick up a few bottles for later but I made sure I could keep a good eye on your car the whole time." She explained.

I gestured to the empty street where my car had been and she said "Well I'll be. They must've got it while I was negotiating a better price. He was trying to overcharge me for the back-room stuff."

I sighed, picked up my phone, and dialed Ranger. "Babe" he answered after the first ring.

"I'm on Stark but my car is gone." I told him.

"On my way" he replied and disconnected.

I waited on the sidewalk with Billie and Lula for a few minutes before Ranger rolled to a stop. Fortunately, he was driving his Cayenne so we all were able to fit.

"Tank is retrieving your car" he said. "They took it to a chop shop but hadn't got started yet, so he's leaving it at the station for you. I assume you are taking him in." He gestured his head back to Billie.

"Thanks" I said kissing him on the cheek. He drove us to the station and I saw my Mercedes sitting unharmed in the parking lot. Lula, Billie, and I got out and Ranger drove away.

Lula remembered something else she needed to do and took off instead of waiting for us. I asked her about the celebratory chicken and she said we'd have to do it tomorrow because she had to go. Lula hates police stations. I wasn't sure where she was going or how she was getting there but I let her go.

Billie got booked back into the system and taken back to a holding cell to wait for his arraignment. He promised to call me to let me know when his new court date was scheduled. The booking agent had just handed me my body receipt when the door opened and Morelli walked through.

He looked at my hands holding the paperwork and said "The rumor is true." I could feel his gaze on my ring and saw the way it hurt him. "I didn't want to believe you broke up with me for him."

"I didn't" I insisted. "I ended things with you for the exact reasons I told you. We just want different things in life. This happened after we ended and was completely unexpected."

"I just hope you know what you are doing. Tying your life to a man you barely know." He shook his head and walked further into the station.


	16. Chapter 16

I made my way back to my car in the parking lot and passed Eddie Gazzara. "Hey Stephanie! I hear congratulations are in order." He gave me a hug and said he was happy for me. "Do you know if Morelli has heard yet?"

"Yeah I just saw him" I said "He seemed pretty upset."

"I expect he would be. But give him time. He'll be ok. You're sure you're making the best decision for you?" He asked.

"I'm sure" I told him.

"Then Morelli will be fine." Eddie assured me "Once his ego gets over the hit it took losing you to Ranger, he'll be able to see it too."

I swung by the office to turn in my body receipt and get my check and found Connie and Lula sharing a bucket of chicken. "Is that my celebratory chicken?" I asked Lula.

"Nah" she said "This here is just regular chicken. We are still getting the celebratory chicken tomorrow."

I took my check and headed back out. I still had two hours before I was due at my parents for dinner, so I headed back to my apartment to check on Rex. He was running on his wheel when I came in. I gave him some hamster kibbles and decided to gather up some clothes to take over to Rangers with me. Just in case I ever felt like wearing something that wasn't black. As I was packing, I realized I wasn't having near the apprehension about moving in with Ranger that I was about moving in with Joe and I couldn't really decide why. I decided not to worry about feelings I wasn't having.

I figured it was a good idea to head over to my parent's house a little early so Ranger wouldn't have to be there alone if he beat me there. Not that I was really worried about it, because Ranger would know exactly when I arrived and could chose to arrive after that moment. But I didn't have anything else to do so I said goodbye to Rex and carried my bag of clothes down to my car.  
I was at my parents by 5:30pm. I walked in and my mother started right away with wedding questions. She was spouting off dates various halls were available and asking me about menu and guests lists. I kept saying I didn't know. I wasn't sure what kind of ceremony Ranger would agree to anyway. We hadn't really discussed it yet. He arrived just a few minutes before 6:00pm. He kissed me briefly and then went into the living room with my father. I stayed in the kitchen with my mother and Grandma Mazur.

When my mother set dinner on the table Ranger and my father both emerged from the living room and sat down at the table. My father looked at me and nodded his head. I had no idea what had happened, but somehow Ranger had got my father on board.

Dinner was uneventful and Ranger graciously accepted my mother's bag of leftovers, even though I had never seen him eat a leftover. I followed him back to his apartment, parked next to him, and we rode up in the elevator together. He didn't say a word about the bag of clothes I grabbed out of my backseat when I got out of the car, but he did take it for me once we got into the elevator.

He set my bag down when he entered the apartment and put the leftovers in his fridge. He then pulled me in for a kiss so deep, I thought that was going to be our entire evening. Eventually, he broke away leaving me breathless. "You deflected all of your mother's wedding questions today. Are you having second thoughts?" he asked.

"No!" I said surprised. "Not at all. I just wasn't sure what kind of wedding you'd agree to."

He kissed my forehead and said "Babe, you can plan whatever wedding you want and I'd agree to it."

"You'd have a big Burg wedding with entire neighborhood, the flowers, the dancing, the whole thing?" I tested.

"If it makes you happy, I can put up with it for a night. I'll take you anyway I can get you and if it involves a big Burg wedding, so be it." He looked over at my bag sitting on the floor. "I can send someone to pack up your apartment if you want, and bring everything over here."

"Do you want me to quit my job?" I asked. His face looked confused at my sudden change of topic but he rolled with it.

"No. If you wanted to quit that would be fine, I don't need you to work. But I wasn't expecting you to quit." He said, his face not sure where this conversation was going.

"What if I wanted to keep my apartment?" I asked.

He started to look a little stressed again, "I want you to live here with me. I want to come home to you every night and wake up to you every morning."

"I want that too" I assured him. "But what if I moved in here but didn't give up my apartment."

He still looked confused, but said "Your rent isn't that expensive. If you want to hold onto your apartment, you can. We could use it as a safe house." I could see him remembering all the times my apartment had been broke into or blown up. "Or we could sublet it." He continued, seeming to give better thought to the safe house idea.

"OK" I said walking over to pick up my bag to take it into the closet.

Ranger grabbed my hand before I could pick it up and pulled me to him. "Are you sure you aren't having second thoughts? If you aren't sure we don't have to get married."

"I'm sure" I assured him. "I want to marry you and I want to live here with you."

"Should I find someone to sublet your apartment?" He asked.

"No" I answered "Just have someone move Rex and my stuff over here. You can just have them get rid of my furniture and stuff we don't need here." I gave him a quick peck on the lips while he was still trying to catch up with the conversation. I went to pick up my bag, but he got it for me and carried it into the closet. I hung up my clothes in his closet and went into the bedroom where he was waiting for me. We didn't leave the bedroom for the rest of the night.


	17. Chapter 17

I woke when I felt him kiss my goodbye in the morning. I stayed Ranger's amazingly comfortable bed just relaxing into the soft sheets. Our bed, I silently corrected myself. I live here now with him, so this is my bed now too. I thought about our conversation the night before and his confused face after I asked to keep my apartment and then just as quickly gave it up. I thought about my reluctance to make that same concession for Joe and found the difference really was simple.

Joe and I had walked away for each other every time things got tough. Sure, getting married would have upped the commitment level for both of us, but I still had never felt totally convinced that we would make it for the long haul. Especially considering our differences of opinion going in on my job and the idea of children. There was a very loud part of me that had always known that marrying Morelli would end dramatically and if I wanted to avoid moving back in with my parents I would need my apartment to retreat back to.

Ranger didn't make commitment lightly, but once he did, I'd never known him to go back on one. His old friends from the Army could call, after not speaking for years, and he would drop everything to help them. He had signed over rights to his daughter believing that was best for her, but continued to financially support her and nearly died trying to protect her.

My different response to the same commitment from these two men had everything to do with the two men themselves. I knew Ranger would never walk away once he had committed to me. And even if the unexpected happened, he would make sure I was taken care of. There was no way I would end up back at my parents, abandoned and alone, if things didn't work out as planned. The way he agreed to let me keep my apartment without ever understanding or even questioning why I wanted it had been assurance enough. This man would move heaven and earth to make sure I had what I wanted, even if he didn't know why I wanted it. I fell back to sleep peacefully for a few hours.

When I got up, I showered in Rangers amazing shower (mine now too!) and heated up my mother's leftovers for breakfast. I knew I could go downstairs to get something from the break room, or call and ask Ella to bring me up something, but there was something comforting about eating my mother's cooking for breakfast. I called her and asked her to take over the wedding planning. I told her I wasn't concerned with the date or the details. But I wanted it to be as soon as possible. After convincing her I wasn't pregnant she let me go so she could get to work.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind of wedding plans. Ranger gave me a black credit card with my name on it and told me to use it for everything for the wedding and anything else I wanted. My father insisted on paying for the hall, but agreed to let Ranger cover everything else.

Lester stopped me one day as I was walking through the office to see Ranger. "I want you to know how happy the family is" he said. I knew Lester was Ranger's cousin, but he was the only member of Ranger's family I had ever met. I only knew him because he happened to work for Rangeman. Ranger had told me that his entire family would be at the wedding though. Lester whispered to me, "Everyone thought he would be alone forever. His mother worried about him not letting anyone in. I just wanted you to know, even though they've never met you, they love you because he loves you."

"Thanks Lester. That really means a lot to me" I said giving him a hug. I carried on into Ranger's office where he greeted me with a kiss and said "Do I have to have a talk with my cousin about keeping his hands off my fiancé?"

I laughed and said "No one here would dare touch me. I just stopped by to say hi. I'm off to go wedding dress shopping." He wished me luck and told me he'd have one of his men wait with a camera so if I was involved in another wedding dress takedown they could get the viral video.

As soon as we got there Mary locked the door and took me back to the dressing room in the furthest corner of the store where I couldn't see any windows. In addition to my mother, sister, and Grandma Mauzer, I had Jenny and Lula with me this time. I was hoping the two of them would even out my argument for a less over the top dress.

Ranger's black card also opened up access to a whole new selection of dresses. I had tried on a few dresses, including Grandma Mazur's mini-dress pick which Lula insisted was classier on than it looked on the hanger. Mary put me into a fit and flare, lace dress with a sweetheart top. I turned around and saw my reflection and knew. I walked out of the dressing room and stood in front of the mirror. No one said a word. I turned to face them and my mother said "You've never looked more beautiful." My sister was crying and even Lula was speechless. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and couldn't wait to see Ranger's expression.

I settled into a comfortable routine. Ranger would kiss me goodbye in the morning when he left for work and I would sleep for a few more hours. Ella had stocked the fridge with some of my favorites and Rex had found a new home in the living room. I would have a cup of coffee and breakfast with Rex and then stop off on the 5th floor to say goodbye to Ranger before I headed out to the office. His reputation had extended to me and street thugs started leaving my car alone. When I needed help with a particularly dangerous skip, he didn't hesitate.

I would get together for lunch or drinks with Jenny a few times a week. We really had picked our friendship up right where it left off. She seemed very happy to be back in Trenton and back in the Burg. But she always seemed to be holding something back.

One night I met my best friend Mary Lou for dinner at Pino's on one of the rare nights her husband had agreed to stay home alone with their kids. We were headed back to a table when she grabbed my hand and asked if I wanted to go somewhere else. I followed her gaze and saw Jenny and Morelli sitting at a table together. He had his arm around her shoulders and his face buried in her neck. I was surprised to see them together like that. More surprisingly, I found I was happy about it. Joe was a great guy and I really wanted him to be happy. I thought this thing with Jenny would be perfect for him. I told Mary Lou I was fine, but we left so we didn't interrupt their night.


	18. Chapter 18

Before I knew it, the day had arrived. I stayed at my parent's house the night before. We were up early to get to the beauty salon to get our hair done. I had my sister, Mary Lou, and Lula as my bridesmaids. Ranger had Tank and Lester from Rangeman and his friend Kinsey, who's wedding I had been a bridesmaid in a few years before.

I was standing in front of the floor length mirror, looking at myself in the most beautiful wedding dress I'd ever seen. My veil started at the very back of my head, under my hair, and extended down to the floor. I was wearing pearl earrings my mother had worn on her wedding day. I had pale blue underwear on under my dress. My ring was old, my dress was new. My earrings were borrowed and my underwear was blue.

My father walked up behind me and asked if I was ready. I smiled and said yes. My mother and grandmother had already been seated. My bridesmaids were making their way down the aisle. I looked at my father and asked "What did Ranger say to you that night we told you we were getting married?"

My father looked me in the eyes and said "He said the only thing he needed to. He told me he loved you and wanted to take care of you for the rest of your life, no matter what. That's all I've ever wanted for you. I knew you were never going to settle into the same kind of life your mother and I had or your sister had. You've always lived your own life and I think this guy is the only one who can actually keep up with you."

The music changed then, signaling it was time for my entrance. My father took my arm and lead me to the doors. They opened and I had tunnel vision. I saw Ranger waiting at the end of the aisle for me and I couldn't see any of the guests as we walked past. He stared at me my entire way down the aisle. I stared back and saw that all the events from the last many years had been living to this moment. I saw him teaching me how to be a bounty hunter, jumping off a bridge as I was falling, relaxing by the ocean as we pretended to be married in Hawaii, and walking through the door to save me and his daughter. My father and I reached the end of the aisle and the pastor asked who was giving me away, my father spoke and then kissed me on the cheek and I stepped up next to Ranger.

"Babe" he said "You look more beautiful than I've ever seen you." And he kissed me.

"I don't think it was time for that yet" I teased.

"I don't care" he teased back and kissed me again before the pastor cleared his throat.

The rest of the ceremony went as planned and before I knew it the pastor was giving Ranger permission to kiss me. He didn't need to be told twice and he pulled me for a kiss that made me wish all of our family and friends weren't watching. The pastor cleared his throat twice before Ranger released me and the pastor announced us for the first time as "Mr. and Mrs Manaso."

We took pictures with family, which actually was the first time I had met Ranger's mother. But Lester was right and she greeted me like a long-lost friend. We went to the hall for the reception and had a fantastic dinner. I was watching Ranger joke with his family, appearing more relaxed than I'd ever seen him in public. I noticed Jenny sitting at a table by herself and walked over.

"Where's your date?" I asked her smiling.

"Oh" she stammered "I wasn't really sure if I should bring one." She had been holding onto her wine glass on the table and quickly moved her hands under the table. But not before I caught a flash of light on her finger.

"Oh my god, Jenny!" I said reaching for her hand under the table. She had a beautiful emerald cut diamond ring on her left hand. I was pleased to see he had picked out a new ring and hadn't given her the same ring he had given me. Her face looked nervous as I took in the ring. "Call him" I told her "I'm happy for you both. Never feel you have to hide that from me. You two are perfect for each other." Her relieved smile was all the response I needed.

At that moment, someone started clinking their glass, signaling they wanted Ranger and I to kiss. I turned to find him making his way across the room to me and met him halfway. He pulled me in for a kiss that I knew would last a lifetime.


End file.
